True Freedom
by Haitorei
Summary: Naruto only stole the secret scroll because Mizuki lied to him... right? Anonymity was a beautiful thing. His entire being, shielded by a mask that ninja feared. An image his comrades respected. Root was liberation. NaruIno. Strong Naru, ANBU Root.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes:

Check profile for disclaimer.

Naruto joins Ne early on. NaruIno.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Inoichi Yamanaka's princess, Ino, had just turned four, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't throw the tot the best fucking birthday party ever conceived of. He'd been planning for weeks, gotten the best kids restaurant in the village, and invited everyone he knew. The Naras were coming, as were the Akimichis, naturally. But this minor birthday turned into a rather large shinobi reunion with everyone and their mother (and their kids) coming over.

There was only one, small, problem. The _kid_ was seen hanging around there, earlier that day. Inoichi was passing by when he saw a blonde toddler wearing orange shorts and a black shirt staring at the park from outside the fence.

Inoichi knew what they said about him. Was he scared? Psh! It wasn't like he was _actually_ cursed... right? He shook his head. No, no. He had already planned for months. It would be too late to cancel now. Still, it was rather... creepy.

The kid just wouldn't look elsewhere. The hollow eyes sliced through the distance and kept their malevolent gaze on him at all times. It was fine, honestly. His wife was right. It's not like a four year old could get past a fence. They'd all be safe. He was just over-thinking things... probably.

Besides, what a ridiculous notion. That _touching_ the demon child could kill someone. In all his years he'd never heard of such a jutsu. Well, save a couple, but it's not like a four year old demon could have enough... chakra.

His imagination terrified him. Then, the worst thing possible happened. Ino's mother had let her down for half a second, when she started walking toward him.

Inoichi shunshined there in heartbeat. "Ino," his hear beating faster than during the Jounin Exams, "you must _never_ go near that boy. _Promise me._"

"Yes, daddy..."

"And _YOU_!" He turned to yell at the boy, but he was gone.

...

"They all hate you. Detest your existence. Do you know why?"

A young blonde boy shook his head innocently. The man exuded a strange smell. He'd never smelled it before. After being beaten for years, the boy had developed an unnaturally keen sense of smells and auras. This man, wrapped in bandages, somehow seemed the most dangerous of them all.

He wasn't quite sure what he was going to do. But somewhere inside, the boy knew he'd be helpless against any assault. Something about the man reeked power. A power hidden, waiting to emerge.

"Do you want them to stop hating you?"

The boy nodded.

The bandaged man smirked. The boy had to be, what, four? Maybe five? Yet, the most natural talent of his generation. The last remaining heir to the Uzumaki clan. He chuckled to himself. The streets had already ingrained into him a sense of _zanshin_, an awareness of the enemy and of the body. His body naturally fit the taijutsu style of the Shodai. The lineage was strong.

"Wear this for a day, and meet me here tomorrow. You'll see – people will treat you differently." The man dropped a white mask with red paint. It seemed to resemble a fox. "You see, Naruto, in this village, people respect one thing: strength. The Hokages. Do you know why they are so respected? _Adored_? Loved by all? They were the strongest shinobi in the village. Risking their lives on a daily basis."

The boy called Naruto nodded, understandingly.

"But there is a group even _more_ vital to the village than the Hokage."

If Naruto was surprised, he didn't react. Honestly, he didn't even really know what the hokage was... or what a ninja was. He thought he had a decent idea – usually the people who wore green vests for some reason. Those were ninja, right? That meant that the Hokage was the strongest of the ninja?

Naruto's brows furrowed as he tried to connect the dots. So the old man that visited him so often was... hokage? He certainly didn't look strong. Maybe the village had multiple hokages? Surely the jiji wasn't – but his thoughts were interrupted, as the elder continued.

"The Hokage is merely the tree that towers above, as a beacon of hope that all can look to. He does not perform the vital function. No, it's the roots that support the tree. Do you know, Naruto-kun, that the roots extend deeper into the soil than the tree is tall? Even more impressive, they branch out in almost any direction. It is the roots that are responsible for the stability and endurance trees are prided for."

He paused here, for emphasis. "Without a strong root system, the tree falls apart."

Naruto didn't really know what to say. What did roots and trees have to do with the village? Or him? Still, the old man was scary enough that Naruto kept his mouth shut.

"Do you know what makes up Konoha's root system?"

Naruto's blonde locks shook.

"Sacrifices. _That's_ why people respect certain shinobi more than others. The ANBU Black Ops team is the Hokage's elite ninja. Strong, well trained, amazing people. But there is one group even more crucial to the village. Always hidden, always on the go. They perform the crucial duties that keep the village running. Duties even the Hokage cannot know about."

Wow. _That_ sounded cool.

"We are called Ne. And we are respected above all. Why don't you try seeing if this Ne mask fits you. Wear it for a day. See how people treat you. Meet me here tomorrow, if you're interested in joining us."

Naruto approached the mask hesitantly. Suddenly, the man vanished in a whirlwind, leaving a swirl of leaves behind. The young boy touched the mask. Nothing seemed to happen. Visibly. It had fox like ears with three whiskers on each side, and at the bottom, there was a small piece of paper with a strange Kanji on it. Nothing like he'd ever seen before.

He stared at it, for what seemed like hours. He couldn't quite explain it... It was almost as if... If he stared quite hard enough, he could see... A blue flickering? He tried to stare deeper. His eyes started to water, but he didn't want to look away. It was so curious – such a strange contraption. Nothing like he'd ever seen before.

_There!_ There it was – a blue flickering, just like he'd seen before. His mind wasn't making this up, he was sure of it. What was that? He wondered what would happen if he touched it.

His eyes pierced the whiteness, focusing. Focusing harder still. Then, a blinding migraine seemed to split his head open. He squinted, trying to open his eyes, but he could only see blue everywhere. And deep inside himself, a strange redness. Tears streaked down his face; an unbearable, unimaginable pain seared through his body. God, he wanted it to go away. All of it! It hurt so bad... Just... '_GO... AWAY!_'

And the mask flew onto his face, binding itself to his body as a blackness engulfed him.

* * *

><p>That's it for the prologue! Future chapters will be longer, I promise.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**

Hatsudenken = "the right to speak"

**Chapter 1**

He awoke with the sun shining on his face. He felt great! He wasn't sure why, but he was pretty sure something fairly important had happened last night.

Waking up, he quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face. It was when he looked up that almost jumped back. He stuck his tongue out. What was that tattoo on his tongue? Another weird marking. And it was glowing blue? What was going on. He shrugged it off.

He ate bugs and played in mud on a daily basis. To a four-year old Naruto, a mark on his tongue was just another strange thing about the world he couldn't explain. On the way to his bed, he remembered his encounter with that strange old man.

Suddenly, the mask came to mind. Where did he put it? After half an hour of turning his room into total chaos, he looked in the only place he went to when he thought: the toilet. The toilet, Naruto decided long ago, was the best spot for thinking. Something about sitting down for a great bathroom break stimulated the mind like nothing else.

Sure enough, the mask was above the cabinet next to the toilet. Grabbing it, he examined it yet another time. The marking was disconcerting, that was for sure. But he had no way of getting it off. He tried peeling it off, but it stuck no matter what.

Now that he thought about it, how did he get back home, anyways? Last thing he remembered from last night was passing out as the mask flew onto his face. With a new resolve, he focused on the seal, searching for that blue, wispy lifeblood that kept the marking alive.

_There!_ Faint, but very much there. Traces. Certainly not as strong as it was last night. Was it dying? Naruto wasn't sure. Maybe the mask would only work if that thing was alive? He tried to smudge the marking with his thumb.

What was it he saw that one ninja doing... He was doing something to that little boy to help him. Dammit, if only he were paying attention.

…

"He hasn't stepped outside yet, Danzou-sama."

"Hm... Most interesting."

"He's occupied with... well, we're not sure."

Danzou glared at his subordinate. "He's _four_. What could he possibly be doing?"

"Well, he just... he just keeps staring at the mask. At the Hatsudenken seal, thumbs it over, and keeps staring at it."

"Then no doubt he's noticed the seal on his tongue already. The question is if he can see trace chakra yet... If he's staring at it for so long, most likely he can. He's progressing quicker than I had anticipated."

"Trace chakra, sir?"

"Dismissed." Danzou replied curtly.

The man bowed and left.

If the Uzumaki could already see trace chakra, then it only meant one thing: his lineage granted him the right that only three others before in shinobi history could achieve. It meant he _had_ to take Naruto in. The scroll besides him informed that the Hatsudenken was still active. In other words, so long as Naruto was under his control, he wouldn't be able to speak.

There were two reasons for this. The primary was insurance. Root recruited young – well before most children could speak fully. They placed the Hatsudenken early, forever preventing the kids from learning speech. Should they ever escape, it would be years before they developed speech so late in adult life. Danzou's secretes would be guarded against treachery.

Of course, not _all_ of his assets had the Hatsudenken. There were modifications – some seals that allowed limited speech but barred discussing certain subjects. But he had a feeling Naruto would be... special, so he took the precaution of casting a _full_ Hatsudenken on the mask.

The second reason was chakra molding. Hand seals, speech, visualization – all were necessary as a crude mechanism of molding chakra to ease the process of performing jutsus. Which is why as shinobi matured, jutsus that they had performed often and throughout their lives would come naturally, without hand signs or even words.

But this set up a system where physical molding became the primary mechanism of associating with chakra, rather than a spiritual connection. The perfect student could, theoretically, simply understand the _nature_ of chakra. That person, barred from speech, would be forced to rely on spiritual and mental capabilities to mold chakra.

Certainly, learning jutsus would be painfully slow at an early age, but in the long run... The advantages that would come in battle almost made him giddy. No movements to read. No anticipation. No silly little requirements such as having two hands free. Just sheer, unadulterated power and an almost perfect molding of chakra. Instantaneously.

With this particular asset, there was one final complication: the Kyuubi. No doubt it would impede his chakra control, making jutsu formation through spiritual molding alone _that_ much more difficult. Danzou smirked. He loved challenges. Especially when the rewards contained the possibility of a perfect Jinchuuriki. The final project Orochimaru never got to complete, despite all his experimentation of the Sharingan and their evolution.

It was long ago, when Danzou discovered a scroll he kept for himself. Within the Uzumaki clan, a select few had the possibility for awakening an consummate Rinnegan, unlike the perversions achieved by Madara during his Golden Age. Madara unlocked it with the ultimate price: his being. A contract with the Shinigami, that, in exchange for possessing the Rinnegan, your being would be split into two. Your powers, your knowledge, your body. You'd be cursed to live a half life. And worse, your other half would be pitted against you for as long as you lived. Essentially, you'd live out your few remaining days as a shell of a person. It was a bargain Madara made in envy of the Uzumakis, and the blood that flowed in the Shodai Hokage's veins.

But that was enough day-dreaming for one day. Uzumaki decided to leave the house at last...

…

What if the mask didn't work? Perhaps he should change his clothes, just in case. He opened the drawers. There wasn't really much of a choice. He had one other alternative: a single navy blue shirt with obsidian black pants. It would have to do. A part of him missed the bright orange jumpsuit. He liked its brightness.

Changing quickly, he anxiously put on the mask. This was it... now or never. Naruto peered outside his door. It was a beautiful summer day. He felt a breeze sweep in under the bottom opening of his mask. He couldn't explain what this feeling was. Was it... insanity? Ecstasy?

All he knew was that, despite getting beaten, mocked, leered, day after day, week after week, he felt today would be different. He had no real idea _why_ he felt so. He just... had faith. That today, things would change. It was the first time Naruto had such a feeling. The seed of hope had just taken root in his young heart.

Perhaps he'd go to the market. He was meaning to buy some ramen anyways. The old grandpa told him shopping was a healthy activity, and that normal people did it a lot. As he walked, a sudden weight was lifted off his shoulders. Years of street life had accustomed him to sense killing intent, and the back of his neck would instinctively tingle anytime there would be eyes on him. But there were none. People passed him, like he was an ordinary sight to see.

He'd often receive an occasional nod, or smile. Nobody minded him. Some even saluted him. People weren't afraid to go near him... It was almost as if they felt... _safe_ around him. That they were _glad_ he was around, policing the streets.

It then occurred to Naruto that he'd have to act mature, whatever that meant. Jiji certainly spoke of maturity a lot. He remembered the last conversation he had with the man – _"When you're older and more mature, Naruto-kun, I'll let you know."_ He didn't know too much about shinobi, but he figured they must have been _really_ mature.

He approached the ramen shop quietly. This was it: judgement time. The last time he tried to eat here... He shuddered, remembering the awful day...

"_Demon brat! How _dare_ you enter and bother these customers. Leave!"_

_Naruto froze. Not to defy the man, but out of genuine fear. D-demon? There was that word again! Over and over. What did it mean? It must have been an insult. The next thing he knew the wind was knocked out of him, and he flew into the opposing building's wall._

_The man had smacked him with the back end of a broom. Hard. "_Never_ enter my store again, or I will kill you. Understand?"_

_Naruto didn't – couldn't. His head was swirling from the impact, his body still reeling from pain. His lungs, desperate for oxygen gulped in as much as they could handle._

_Another smack, this time on his head. "Now get lost!"_

_He tried to get up, only falling on some mud. Some spectators chuckled, but most remained stoic. He staggered off, still dizzy, trying to find his apartment._

Getting up, on the stool, he quietly bowed when the owner looked at him.

"Ah! Shinobi-san, welcome!" His face was smiling, a genuine smile at that. "It is an _honor_ to have one of Danzou-sama's elite forces among us. How can I help you today?"

Naruto was genuinely shocked speechless. Just a week before he had almost _died_, and yet this store owner treated him so differently. Unable to muster up the courage to say anything, he just pointed to the ramen.

"Ah," the man said quietly. "It was that kind of a night, I understand. I'll be quieter. Hangovers are brutal." The man whispered playfully, getting Naruto the ramen.

Now he was _thoroughly confused._ He had _no_ idea what that kind of a night or a hangover was, but he was grateful that the man didn't expect him to speak. A part of him feared that the man would recognize his voice. A larger part worried he'd say something stupid and have his identity given away.

This was nothing compared to what happened next. When Naruto moved to get his wallet to pay the man, the man waved him off.

"Oh, no, shinobi-san. After all you've done for our village, risking your lives, it's the least I can do. Please, no need to pay me. Thank you for stopping by."

Naruto blinked. Twice. Bowed. Grabbed his ramen. And left, wondering exactly what kind of amazing power this mask brought him. It was _incredible._ Ramen cost an incredibly expensive amount! The last time he bought ramen it had cost him an entire _year's_ savings! Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. One that made him very, very angry.

Perhaps ramen wasn't expensive... Maybe it was just expensive for _Naruto_... The more he thought about it, the more things clicked, and the more his blood boiled. They were raising prices for him for whatever reason – probably, he realized, the same reason everyone hated him. And suddenly, the mask seemed to be his only way out. He _craved_ the anonymity it provided him. The amazing ability to just instantly shed away his entire past.

He looked at the ramen with a new disgust. He couldn't bring himself to eat it. He thought about throwing it out. _'No, that'd just be a waste of good ramen.'_ And then, he had an idea...

…

Naruto carefully went into the red-light district. He was familiar with the streets here. The people here weren't wary of him. They simply seemed to pass him by as they minded their own business, eyes glazed and breath foggy. He wasn't sure why, but he was able to infer, even at his age, that this place was barred off from the rest of the village.

Nevertheless, he liked the people here. They didn't judge. They treated all equally. And some of the women were surprisingly friendly, often asking him to "cum for them," whatever that meant. He stopped, reaching one of the shantytowns on the outskirts.

One of the women here had fed him, after seeing him lying on the streets, bleeding. Approaching her hut carefully, he took off his mask, waving hello to her. She, however, didn't receive him in the same manner. Staring at his mask, she instantly became distrustful.

"Please leave."

Naruto became puzzled. He didn't understand. Why was she treating him like this, all of a sudden, when everyone else seemed to admire the mask? He took another step forward, but this time her voice was much firmer, almost desparate.

"Please _leave!_"

Setting the freshly prepared food he had received with her, he departed, saddened.

…

He then decided to go to the one place he'd never had the chance to: the park the blonde girl had a birthday party at. _Now_ he'd undoubtedly be respected.

He bolted off, heading toward his favorite spot in Konoha. For the first time, the park was empty. He smiled to himself. Nobody to stop him. Climbing over the fence, he wandered in barefoot, embracing every moment of the lush, soft grass beneath his feet. It was unreal.

Approaching a beautiful sakura tree, he lied down underneath its shade, admiring the clouds. It was a wonderful day. A _perfect_ day. The clouds, care-free, roamed about, undisturbed by anything in the chaotic, miserable world below them. They calmly floated through, unhindered. He wished to be like that someday. Just peacefully passing through. Free to do whatever he wished. With whomever.

It had been perhaps an hour or so of bliss before some other children entered the park. As more people trickled in, Naruto felt a shiver. Would they know? Wasn't he too young to wear such an elegant mask? He shrugged off some of the nervousness. He was probably just not getting used to it. Besides, it had been working so far.

_There_. He saw the same girl as before – on the day of that party. She was... crying? A couple boys throwing stones at her.

"Ino-pig!"

"Gosh, you're so fat! Why don't you just eat some grass, you big cow!"

They each took a turn, pointing and laughing.

Naruto's blood was boiling. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but in a heartbeat he was right next to them. Honestly, he didn't even remember taking steps. It was as if he just... appeared. But he was unconcerned with this little trick his mind played on him. As the third boy was about to throw sand at her, he grabbed his arm, squeezing tightly and making him release the harmful grains.

The scene turned deadly silent. "Woah." One of the boys said. "Where did you come from?"

Naruto remained quiet.

"It doesn't matter." The boy Naruto was holding then turned and was about to punch him back, but Naruto pushed the kid back and knocked the back of his knee, causing him to collapse. It was a little trick he had learned... the hard way. Many times.

The group, naturally, didn't respond to this particularly well. There were four of them, one of them a girl with bright pink hair. Naruto paused, if only for a millisecond, to ask the natural question. _'Pink hair? Nani!'_ The girl remained behind while the three boys charged at him.

Group fights were certainly not a novelty to Naruto. He'd already had his fair share of brawl, but this one was unique insofar as they weren't adults attacking him. They, individually, certainly didn't overpower him. He felt a sense of satisfaction grow within him. For the first time, he wouldn't have to run. He wouldn't have to hide. He smiled. Perhaps the mask was just getting to him, but he was going to fight. And he would win.

A fist came at him, but Naruto ducked and kicked the kid in the crotch. No need to play nice. It was three on one. A part of him had a malicious curiosity. It would be the first time he _could_ win. And he wanted to pull out all the stops. Everything that had been happening to him, he'd do to them.

The kid collapsed almost immediately. Naruto half-wanted to snort. They fought like the characters in the movies. Poised, dramatic, and _slow_. But Naruto knew better. Fights were messy. There was no such thing as a clean fight. The cunning, slightly luckier, and half-second faster ones won the battle.

But his arrogance had betrayed him. Out of nowhere, one of the kids had managed to sneak up behind him and elbow him in the neck, causing him to lose balance. Then, the pink haired girl snickered. "Defending little Ino-pig? Maybe you're just a pig, too, hiding behind that mask of yours." The girl pulled on Ino's hair. Hard.

_'That's it.'_ Naruto seethed. It wasn't him getting hurt, this time. For the first time, he couldn't _afford_ to fail. Honestly, he wasn't really sure what happened next. But everyone around him, barring Ino, was on the floor. It was as if he'd simply blown them away by wishing it to be so.

"Stop!" The leader of the little group responded now, in a warning tone. "My dad _told_ me about these guys in the masks. They're ANBU – he's a ninja. A really _strong_ one."

They almost broke down. "Gomen, gomen-nasai!" And as quickly as they came, they were off.

Naruto was taken aback. His mask certainly carried the reputation Danzou had spoken about. Turning to the girl, Ino – he guessed from the earlier name calling, he offered a hand, helping her up.

She hesitantly reached for his palm. His grip didn't waiver. Slowly but steadily, he pulled her up, making sure her balance was stable. Then, softly, he wiped away one of her tears with this thumb, shaking his head as if telling her not to cry.

"A-Arigatou gozaimasu, shinobi-san."

Naruto bowed quickly and turned to leave. Gosh, she sure was pretty.

"Sh-shinobi-san! Onamae wa?"

There it was. She had asked him for his name, and what was he supposed to say? That he was the kid who everyone hated? Naruto opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Not because he was too nervous, or he didn't want to. He literally _couldn't_ speak.

And then the panic set in. The mask! This morning! The seal on his mouth! He began to sweat. He _literally_ couldn't speak. God, it had been so _obvious_. What had he been thinking! Trusting strange men? And then the sense of betrayal hit. Danzou was just another villager who hated him. Just another practical joke, to make his life even more miserable.

How that man must have been laughing now, knowing he'd successfully prevented the child everyone hated from _speaking_. Tears came to Naruto's eyes, and his stomach tightened into a knot. There wasn't any point to being in this village anymore. It was futile. The longer he stayed, the worse the jokes got. He had to leave. And just as he was about to run off when –

_Tap._

_Tap._

Ino turned around, seeing her father with an elderly, bandaged man.

"Ah, this must be your latest apprentice, Danzou-sama."

"Indeed," the elder said, smiling. "He holds the most promise – the most talented of all, arguably. It seems they've already become acquainted!" He chuckled happily. Turning to Ino, he gently patted her head. "I see you've met Kitsune-kun! He's one of our most valuable Root shinobi."

Ino turned to Naruto. Bowing, she said "I'm Ino. Thank you for saving me."

Naruto nodded, unsure of what was happening. What on earth was Danzou saying? Terrified of blowing his cover to the beautiful blonde before him, Naruto decided to go along with the old man's lies.

Inoichi frowned internally. Danzou... at times, he almost seemed... human. "Yes, so it would seem. Well, I'd hate to interrupt your quite busy schedule."

"Not at all, it was a pleasure."

Taking a particularly low bow, Inoichi summoned his daughter. "Come, Ino. Say goodbye to Danzou-sama and Kitsune-san."

Ino bowed. "Goodbye." But before heading off, she ran up, closer to Naruto, pushed his mask back just enough to see a glimmer of golden-blonde hair, and pecked him on the edge of his cheek. Placing his mask back, she whispered "I won't forget you." And ran off.

Which left him and Danzou, alone. Naruto felt a nervousness grip him. He wasn't sure what this man was capable of, and given his inability to speak, he was almost certain Danzou was not on his side.

"No doubt you must be angry at me. But I feel your anger is misplaced. Come with me, and I'll explain everything." And he was whisked away.

…

"Why does Kitsune-kun wear a mask?"

"Because he is a part of Ne – a secret division of the ANBU Black Ops headed by Danzou."

Ino remained silent for a while. "But _why_ does Kitsune-kun wear a mask?"

Her father chuckled. "To conceal his identity."

"A secret?"

He nodded. "Yes, a secret, Ino-chan."

"So he could be _anyone_?"

Her father chuckled. "No, not anyone. He's your age, most likely. He must be very talented to be already given his mask."

"Daddy, if I tell you a secret, will you keep it for me?"

Inoichi nodded. "I promise."

"I know who he is." She whispered.

Inoichi smiled, but decided to play along with his young daughter. "Really!" He acted surprised. "Why, tell me who it is then!"

Ino shook her head. "Nu-uuhh."

"Ino-chan, please?" He swung his daughter in a circle and grabbed her, causing her to giggle.

Laughing, she said "Okay, okay. _You're_ Kitsune-kun!"

Whatever Inoichi suspected, it wasn't _that_. Laughing, he placed her on his lap, stroking her hair as he always did before it was her nap time. "_Me?_ Ano, but I was right there!"

The sleep was already getting to her, but she managed to make out some words. Shaking her head, she replied "He had golden hair... You're the only one with that color hair." Yawning, she began to doze off, dreaming of her mysterious savior.

Ino paused, thinking about the gravity of his daughter's words. _'Blonde hair...?'_ It must have been an orphan from a neighboring village. That was fairly common for Ne... Right?

"He saved me... From those bullies."

Bullies? Was that what those kids were doing to her? Inoichi frowned. "Which bullies?" But his daughter was already asleep. Perhaps the kid wasn't all bad. Inoichi wasn't a complicated man. Anyone that saved his daughter was alright in his book.

The overprotective father chuckled. Placing a kiss on his daughter's forehead, he tucked her in bed and shut the door.

…

"Will you ever release the seal?" A shadowy figure, eclipsed in the darkness, peered through at Danzou.

Danzou chuckled. "Of course, of course. He'll need the ability to speak for higher level missions. But I can't ever release it completely, you know that."

The mysterious shadow nodded. "Insurance."

"Precisely. By the time we're done with him, he'll know too much. Just in case... Every asset is also a liability. I intend to make sure that traitors won't be an issue."

Blazing red eyes pierced through the fog, drilling holes into Danzou's neck. "Let me know, before you give him his speech back. This _is_ a joint project, after all." And with that, the man vanished.

Danzou frowned. The partnership was becoming increasingly weary. Perhaps it was time he take over the Kyuubi project entirely. That way, all paths to his being Hokage would be cleared. One thing was for certain: he'd have to begin Naruto's training earlier than anticipated.

He was reviewing the report of the fight. Of course, he'd had one of his subordinates henge into a kid's form to initiate a fight with the blonde. Something about the blonde had evoked an immeasurable strength from Naruto. He'd used one of the six powers granted to him by his lineage... the sacred Dojutsu that only gods were meant access to.

He stared at the Uzumaki clan scroll he'd never managed to crack. Only one pair of eyes could do so. The pair that only Naruto had the potential to unlock. And somehow, this girl had evoked that from him. His grip around his chair tightened, cracking the wood. He needed a way to replicate that. Now.

…

Naruto felt, above all else, relief. It hadn't been betrayal. Danzou was offering him a position. In exchange for a new identity. His explanation of chakra molding hadn't really made sense to Naruto, but it seemed to be some sort of method of making him stronger, so he couldn't argue. Hell, he'd give up an arm and a leg if he had to.

"They're all like you, you know. Hated. Feared. Misunderstood. Not seen for the potential you have inside of you. All of you." He said softly. "Some select few are meant to shine. They stand out in the village, admired. The rest of us were relegated to the depths of despair."

Naruto looked around the giant compound. Ne was an underground establishment. Literally. Located in secret tunnels and mazes throughout Konoha's interior and below some of the oldest buildings and sanctuaries. Training arenas, large buildings, and even medium-sized communities, all underneath the village. Naruto gathered that most people slept, ate, and lived here. Underground.

"It is my personal mission to help each and every one of you find a special place in society. Here at Ne, I am offering to you, as I have done to so many before you, an opportunity. A route to freedom and acceptance. Your acceptance is entirely voluntary. Feel free to decline if you wish. But should you choose to accept, your family is eager to meet you."

Naruto perked up.

"Yes, we are all assigned to living communities here at Ne. Senseis who watch over and guide your training, as well as live with you. We form a tight knit community with each other. After all, if we don't look after ourselves, who will?"

Naruto realized he was being far too hopeful. There was no reason to believe this 'family' would treat him any differently. But... Danzou said they were the same... the same as he was.

"And don't worry. We don't go by our actual names here at Ne. Should you accept, there's no turning back. You will discard your old identity. Your past. Your name. Everything about you. And start anew."

Naruto smiled visibly. To some, it may have seemed like torture; forgetting everyone you loved, discarding everything and starting over. But to Naruto, he had no such people. He had no good memories. He had everything ready to discard. All of it. And Danzou knew it.

He smiled at the boy. He was a perfect fit for Ne – as perfect as they come.

Naruto considered it for a moment. The temptations of leaving everything he was hated for and simply burying it. It was almost too good to be true. But it was also liberating. No one in Ne knew anyone else's real name. He wasn't sure if it was true or not, but Danzou had told him that Ne was formed from others who were just like him.

Orphans, discarded and unwanted. Or people who couldn't find a place anywhere else in society. They were trash. Waste that didn't have any use for the outer world, so they crawled in deeper and deeper underground, eventually becoming powerful and respected.

It was a dream Naruto wanted to believe in. _Needed_ to believe him. Anonymity was a beautiful thing. His whole identity unreachable. His entire being, shielded by a mask that ninja feared. An image his comrades respected. An icon the village admired. Root was liberation. True freedom.

Danzou was his God. His only savior. And he'd do anything to retain his Ne status. Smiling, he walked off, willingly, into the darkness of the caverns.


	3. Chapter 3

Finals are over! Yay =D

Okay, here's the next installment.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Naruto slept like a baby that night – for the first time he could remember, actually. Historically, he was a light sleeper. Not naturally, but out of evolution. Fear that a villager would sneak into his apartment to do something. Fear that he'd never wake up again.

But that night was different. He felt safe. The bed itself was _amazing_. Lush, soft, and warm. Filled with the knowledge and contentment that he finally was in a place he belonged, Naruto closed his eyes and buried himself underneath a mound of fleecy blankets.

Before he knew it, morning had struck. He remembered Danou's warning that last night.

"_Here at Ne, we train hard. We respect only strength. If you want to remain a member, you must work just like the rest of us."_

He was determined to stay. From his understanding, everyone at Ne spoke in sign. Most people _could_ speak, but it was just something that was habitually enforced by Danzou. He felt that any risk of people discovering another's identity had to be minimized. Plus, many, like Naruto, had the Hatsudenken placed on them from early on, and it was simply polite to speak in sign. So, overall, the compound was extremely quiet.

Not that Naruto minded. It may have been quieter than outer Konoha, but people actually paid attention to him here. Last night he played games with other children and learned the crude basics of sign. It was the most fun he'd ever had... Well, maybe except for saving Ino-chan.

_'Ino-chan...'_ It was the first time he'd thought about her since moving in. With all the excitement of meeting his new senseis, his pod (clusters of children who lived together,) and getting oriented to the Ne compound, he simply hadn't had time.

Remembering her words, _"I won't forget you..."_ a slight tingly sensation came in his stomach. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it wasn't comfortable. Thinking of how she kissed him on his cheek, the feeling only got worse. He shook his head. He needed to focus on other things, before he got any dizzier.

…

Hatake Kakashi sighed. The Sandaime Hokage was getting older, and with old age came several benefits – wisdom, more level-headed temperament, the ability to distance emotions form rationality. Usually, these were core characteristics of the older Sarutobi. But today was a big, whopping exception.

He avoided the Hokage Tower at all costs. Why? Some ANBU screwed up last night. _Huge_. Uzumaki Naruto, heir to the Yondaime Hokage and carrier of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was missing. Vanished, like thin air. After being neglected, beaten, and scolded numerous times, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a certain degree of sympathy for the child.

Perhaps it was better this way? The poor child wouldn't have to endure a hellish life. He shook his head once more, sighing. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Where the hell were the ANBU that were supposed to be watching over him? How do you lose a four-year old? Unacceptable. Simply unacceptable.

_'Fuck it.'_ He changed his mind. Once the kid was found, he'd _demand_ to be his caretaker. It wouldn't matter what anyone, the Sandaime included, said. Naruto was his sensei's son, and he'd be damned if he was about to let that child rot away in some cell.

…

Darkness, Naruto learned, was _wonderful_. He typically loathed it during his childhood, if only because that was when the majority of the assaults would take place. Time after time, come nightfall, Naruto was certain he would get a beating.

But Ne had disproved that, like many other prejudices he previously held. With the entire compound being underground, Naruto often found himself in darkness. After all, it was fairly inefficient to keep the _entire_ complex lit all the time. Most of the places were actually dark a fair bit of the time, and it wasn't difficult to find areas that were never lit.

More of than not, he would cozy up in these areas and just find some time to think. Ponder things about life. The _absolutely insane_ way his trainers made him work. And, when he felt particularly lonely, Ino. He hadn't forgotten her. Not for a single day. Whenever he felt himself slipping, or close to the edge of giving up, he'd think of her.

Not because of some fanciful dream of reuniting with her. He smiled at that thought. What a wispy dream, completely intangible for all intents and purposes. Most likely, he would never see her again. Most likely, he'd become a part of Ne's upper echelon shinobi, and she would pursue a more normal route. Most likely, their paths would forever separate, remaining a part of his past that he'd long let gone of.

But fate, little to Naruto's knowing, had different plans. And somewhere in a flower shop, a blonde sneezed.

…

The child was a fuinjutsu prodigy. It was unparalleled the way he simply soaked up knowledge of the nearly extinct art, and his creativity emboldened him further. Danzou now had an entire division researching possibilities based on Naruto's creations. It had come to the point where he had long exhausted his own, and his staff's, personal knowledge of sealing. No, what he needed were scrolls.

Scrolls that only the Yondaime or Jiraiya had access to. Perhaps he'd even be ready for Orochimaru's intermediate seals and some of the early experiments he had started with the Sannin. Somewhere deep inside, he hoped for the possibility of making even further advancements in that field. The miracles that would be possible...

Over the past couple months Uzumaki Naruto had progressed from a fledgling with some promise to a formidable opponent. He did as was instructed, no more, no less. As Danzou suspected when he first met Naruto, taijutsu came to him naturally. After growing up on the street, he understood the fundamentals extremely well. He was well versed in a multitude of styles, but the time was coming to mould Naruto's own personalized style.

Perhaps the older Izuna styles, fused with the Uzumaki traditionals, Danzou mused. The Izuna styles, initially developed by an old nomadic tribe that worshipped the Kyuubi as their God, focused on extreme offensive maneuvers combined with unpredictability. It was rumored to be the inspiration for the Shodai's own taijutsu style – one that was supposedly untraceable, not even by the Sharingan.

But that was a concern for a later day.

Genjutsu was not progressing as well, but Danzou had guessed so much. Naruto was his father's child, after all, which meant that genjutsu was not something his body was meant for, nor something he would like. His main goals were getting Naruto accustomed the feeling of getting trapped in genjutsu, and more importantly, how to break it should he get caught.

His progress in that area was moderate, and that was all Danzou wanted. The real problem, unfortunately, was ninjutsu. To date, Naruto had yet to perform a _single_ ninjutsu. Not one. He shook his head. Oh, he _knew_ many, certainly. Had studied their weaknesses, strengths, and when to use them. It was the combined problem of the Kyuubi's interference, the inability to say incantation, plus Danzou's own requirements of abandoning hand seals that proved too much for the young boy.

Even worse, his chakra control was _miserable_. Sure, he had gotten tree-walking down, and, on a good day, could walk on water for a couple minutes. But when performing jutsu, the boy was far off his base. But Danzou's thoughts were interrupted.

A man with a plain mask stepped forward. "Proceed." Danzou allowed.

"Permission to speak, Danzou-sama."

"Granted."

"He's ready for the sotsugyoushiken." (AN: graduation exercises)

Danzou remained silent for some time. Then, after a long pause, he smiled. "So the time has come for Naruto-kun's first kill. Excellent."

For sometime, Danzou had been worried about his emotional conditioning. The boy would _pretend_ to hide his emotions, sure enough, but deep inside, he could still sense the boiling tempers. The passionate determination, the focus inside of him... It wasn't able to be stamped out like the rest of them. Regardless of how many hours he spent in training, something deep inside Naruto just wouldn't budge. Wouldn't fold.

He grinned. But perhaps the graduation exercises would change all that.

…

Ino had just turned seven, and long given up her obsession with ANBU. Well, perhaps not given up entirely. Every once in a while, she'd see an ANBU and, in the back of her mind, a small voice would pique with interest. But she'd shove it away as soon as it came. It was a silly little childhood story her father liked to make fun of her about; no reason to keep thinking about it.

For years she'd roam outside, with just the intent of finding that masked ANBU. But it was all to no avail. And eventually, the hopeful, burning desire to find her savior turned into wishful thinking. And soon enough, the wishful thinking turned into just a little hobby, to keep her occupied.

Besides, in a couple months she'd be joining the academy! Soon, she'd become a kunoichi. She sighed, dreamily. Still, maybe one day, when she was strong enough to join the ANBU, she'd discover who the identity of that man was? In the mean time, she turned to face a certain raven-haired, pale boy wearing a blue shirt.

He was _gorgeous_... He was also supposed to be joining the academy in a few months. The back of Ino's neck shivered with excitement. Soon enough, she'd be on the path to adulthood.

…

The Sandaime stared at the Hokage Monument, looking intensely at a particular face. What would Minato think of him? Having lost his only child? The options were wearing thin now... Of all the possibilities that his anxious mind scanned, three seemed to stand out.

The worst, of course, being the child was dead. It was certainly _possible_; an adept shinobi could have kidnapped him and killed him, disposing of his remains in a proper method. But it seemed unlikely. The hokage had been careful to place him within proximity of the hokage tower at all times.

His crystal ball would have alerted him if any foreigner approached Naruto. But in the back of his mind, a sinister thought voiced itself. _'It doesn't have to be a foreigner... There are plenty in Konoha who want him dead...'_

He shook his head. He refused to believe that someone had killed the child. Not on his watch. Which left two more, equally troubling, options. The first was that he'd fled Konoha. With all the abuse he'd taken, he could have attempted to leave. This didn't seem likely either. A young child trying to survive on his own in the surrounding forests? Hardly likely. A related query also seemed silly: that he was hiding within Konoha.

His crystal ball would _certainly_ have caught that much. Which really only left on option.

He frowned. This whole thing stunk to high hell of Danzou…

…

It was almost time. Graduation was approaching, and Naruto had never been happier. Everyone at Ne was fluent in sign, and he was a fast learner. His adopted family was _wonderful_, in every way possible. Over the past couple years, they had bonded like any family he wished. Sure, it was rather strange insofar as no one knew each other's real name, but in days, it stopped mattering.

Most in Ne were eager to get rid of their awful past histories. His father, who went by Yamamura, was strict, but kind. Naruto early on would certainly get himself in trouble on purpose, if only because he would receive some sort of attention. It was such a novel experience to him. But Yamamura was patient and understanding enough, carefully guiding Naruto.

His mother, Ishida, an extremely talented Genjutsu user, was very loving. Rumor had it that the two were a real couple, and Yamamura was infertile. But Naruto could hardly care less. It was his own small, quirky, wonderful family and he _cherished_ them. They taught him sign slowly, and although they could speak, they would often exclusively use sign just to make him feel accepted.

He paused before a giant door. Who knew what this test would be.

…

Picking Naruto's opponent had been difficult. Often, students learned more during graduation than all their training combined. It was a time when they were forced to adapt, learn their weaknesses, and be pushed into a corner. It was a time of growth.

As a budding Fuuinjutsu prodigy, Danzou had only one choice as an opponent for Naruto. Someone whose specialty was speed. Someone who showed Naruto the reason why nobody used seals for fighting anymore. Not because of it's difficulty, no. Because of its _vulnerability_.

As the doors opened, Naruto stepped into the stadium. It was a small, square arena with rising walls on either side. The arena was well lit, and perhaps there were people in the stands, but his attention didn't focus on that. His entire being was directed at a single, focused spot.

30 meters in front of him. Directly ahead. A man with a shinobi's forehead protector. An Iwa nin. He was smirking.

…

In all his years, Danzou had never seen a more elegant first kill. It was partially accidental, he was sure of that. Danzou had taken a prisoner from Tsuchikage, a low level Chuunin, and freed him. It was a death match. The foreigner had been promised freedom if he managed to defeat Naruto.

Needless to say, that didn't exactly happen. Two fundamental, wondrous breakthroughs occurred on that fight. One, Naruto proved he was ready for the trials that every ninja faced. And second, he performed his first jutsu. The simultaneous advances made the old former-Hokage contender smile with a sadistic pleasure. Finally, after months of stalled progress, things were moving onward.

For Naruto, however, all went still. Even though he couldn't talk, his mind was _constantly_ filled with utterances. Thoughts swirling, blazing by at lightning speeds. He could hardly shut his mind up! If thoughts could be loud, Naruto's mind was a whirlwind of a storm. Always.

But now, his brain froze. He couldn't do a thing. He stared at his hands, which were stained a deep crimson. Next to his feet was the heart of the shinobi he had forcefully ripped out. Honestly, it was accidental. Naruto felt confident enough in that particular fight that he could try performing jutsu again... Only this time, something clicked. Something primal. An animal feeling deep inside.

Something that _begged_ him to perform a particular jutsu correctly. And Naruto ceded to its wishes. Without hand seals, he quietly moulded the chakra and performed the wind claw technique – an assassination jutsu often used by Suna ninja; surrounding each finger with a high-torpedo wind circulation, it created artificial claws for a short period of time.

He swallowed, his parched throat desperate for any drops of saliva that may fall down. Still, nothing could compute in his mind. And all of a sudden it happened. He was very, very angry. Angry that he had listened to the voice in his mind. Angry at Danzou, who had purposefully arranged this. Angry that it had to be in _this_ way that discovered how to perform jutsu. Angry that his tactic had been so ruthlessly efficient.

A single clap echoed through the underground cavern, breaking Naruto's train of thoughts.

Then another. Slow, but steady, in a syncopated pattern.

A third, louder now.

Then, thundering applause. Only then Naruto had been made aware that most of the compound was watching, if not _all_ of them. They were all smiles. Naruto had passed. Danzou came down now, and whispered in his ear.

"You are now ready for the way of the shinobi. Do not be angry, for it is something we must _all_ do. It is a part of our very existence. The true strength of a shinobi is determined by your ability to shove these feelings away; bury them deep inside. Do not be bothered by it. _Relish_ what you have just done, Naruto-kun. It was one of the most beautiful kills I have seen in a long time."

And Naruto sobered up. It was meant to be difficult, after all. He had told himself this was a long time coming, and he knew it. But no amount of mental preparation could make him ready for what had happened. Naruto had, knowingly or otherwise, _ripped_ a man's heart _out of his chest cavity_. Without mercy.

He did the only thing he _could_. He buried away part of his humanity, and calmly put on his Ne mask. Perhaps, if Uzumaki Naruto couldn't handle it, Kitsune could. _'Besides,'_ the boy thought as he walked back to his bed that night, _'Uzumaki Naruto is long gone... Nobody wanted him anway.'_

…

"How do you deal with it?"

"With what?"

"... Killing. How do you deal with killing, Sai?" Fierce azure eyes stared into nonchalant obsidian ones.

"A true shinobi doesn't care about killing. A true shinobi has no feelings. I am a true shinobi."

Naruto snorted. He didn't want that. He didn't want to become that. But he could feel the slow and steady slide into darkness. He could feel the apathy engulfing him slowly. The vices that plagued every ninja – be it booze, perverted novels, or sex – he understood it now. People wanted to forget. Not address those ugly feelings deep inside. Because without distractions, you have to face yourself.

And sometimes, when you face yourself, you find the demons that haunt your mind.

So they escaped reality in whatever trivial games they could. In the simple pursuits of life, enjoying the little things while they could.

He hated it. The whole fucking, perverted system. He wanted to pound his fists against the wall. He wanted to destroy the whole goddamn complex. He wanted to _scream_, and just – and then the idea struck. He wanted to _scream_. It was time to put his knowledge of sealing to use. Naruto thought about it. He had grown dramatically these past three years. And in another year or two, his rudimentary training would become complete... He was beginning to outgrow this place. Perhaps it was time to start thinking of life outside of Ne.

It was time he learned to speak once more. A single bell rang. _'Well... Back to training.'_

…

Danzou was fairly content. Happy would be too... well, _happy_ to describe Danzou. He altered between two moods: serious, and content. As a major ninja leader, he found that all other emotions either dulled his edge or clouded his judgement. Currently, the Kitsune Project was progressing.

Over the past couple months, Naruto's progress had resumed. Whatever happened during his graduation exams, it helped. Tremendously. Mental conditioning was going excellently. The hesitation to not kill was thoroughly drowned out. During battles, he had impeccable killing intent.

Fuuinjutsu, needless to say, was going wonderfully. Many thought seals were a nifty and useful tool for missions and other aspects of ninja life, but not for battle. In fact, it had been decades since there was a successful fuuinjutsu battler. The Fourth, with his teleportation jutsu had gotten close, with incorporating some aspects. But even that paled to the potential of the art.

A potential that Naruto was rapidly re-discovering. His sheer creativity alone allowed him two or three new functional seals every half-month! The progress was unheard of. And with each advancement, he continued to make modifications on his old seals, improving them as he went along.

But Danzou's thoughts were interrupted by two blazing crimson eyes.

"Faster, Danzou."

"His progress is remarkable. I need another year or two."

"You have ten months before the operation. He'd better be ready by then."

"_Ten _months? This is – "

"Your final warning. If you can't do it, please let me know. I have no qualms about training him myself. But then again, I don't need _him_. Just his eyes."

"He's only lacking in one area. And I have a plan to get him back on track."

But the shadow was already gone, refusing to listen to Danzou's pathetic excuses.

Ninjutsu was back on its way, now that he finally was able to perform jutsus. Still, his chakra control was _miserable_. Not just bad, but truly _miserable_. Often, jutsus would come out at just a fraction of their potential. Danzou was getting desparate... Naruto had still only once managed to use the raw powers of the Rinnegan, which meant that he had to once again go back to its source.

…

Yamamura looked at Naruto blandly. The kid who was usually a ball of impossible energy was dead today. He wasn't mentally there at all. Shaking his head at another half-hearted katon jutsu, the older Ne assistant decided perhaps today would be better spent getting to the heart of the problem.

Chuckling, he threw water at the small fire, dousing it effectively. He motioned Naruto to come with him. They moved to a quieter room, far away from all the madness. Sitting next to his student, he quietly pulled out a storage scroll and activated it. Out popped a canvas and some paints.

"Why don't we paint today, hm?"

Naruto stared at the man in shock. He wad deviating from the training regimen. His father _never_ deviated from any regimen – even a stupid schedule written on a post-it. He was a man of order. And yet... painting? He had heard of rich people taking it up as a hobby.

"I... I don't know how."

Yamamura shook his head. "There is no how."

Naruto stared at him wildly. "What do you mean – why aren't we training?"

"This is training." The older man said. "Perhaps the most important kind of training. Now, come here. That's right, let's get you situated..."

Naruto had a brush in his hand, a palette acrylic paints in the other, and stared at what it is he should do. And for a while, that's all that happened. He stared. Why was he even doing this? He should be training. "But I'll get behind on trai – " but his signing was interrupted.

"Kitsune." His father said in a more stern voice. "Let's paint."

And Naruto continued to stare. He didn't know what to do. What to paint. How to even put the brush to the canvas! For Kami's sake he didn't know how to paint! He sighed, frustrated at the options given to him. Giving up, he acquiesced to his father's demands.

He stared at the colors before him... Orange _was_ his favorite color after all...

…

Painting wasn't so bad, once he got over the initial hump of not tearing down every painting he made instantly. Once he no longer really cared about how beautiful it was, or stopped comparing it to his father's work. After that, painting became quite enjoyable, actually.

They spent the next few hours working on several simple pieces, and Yamamura helped Naruto with several techniques. They worked on some pretty basic paintings together, mostly abstract art that combined colors in pretty unique methods.

Naruto had a hunch that his paintings probably stunk to high hell, but there was no way Yamamura would admit that. He was a caring and wonderful father who, honestly, treated Naruto as if he were his real child. And Naruto realized how grateful he was to the man. To both of them. To Ne.

His thoughts were interrupted by a strangely dressed man entering the room.

"Yamamura-san, may I inquire as to why Kitsune-san is exempt from training today?"

"He most certainly is not. It's just, we've completed the regimen rather quickly today, and I chose to give him a break."

Naruto blinked. His father was lying. He supposed he had to go along with the lie.

The strange man, however, most certainly wasn't amused. "Really?" He asked incredulously. "Please, show me."

Naruto didn't know who this man was. Perhaps if he knew, he'd be intimidated. Part of his brain told him that, even if he did know, he wouldn't have been. This man clearly didn't respect his father or him. And he had dealt with people like that for long enough. His eyes furrowed in determination. The man wanted a fucking fireball? Fine.

He was going to light him on fire.

Before Yamamura could even say anything, Naruto opened his mouth and a roaring fireball that took up half of the giant room was hurtling at the stranger.

His father smiled. The style had its merits. No give away – well, other than the giant chakra build-up. No one could have missed that. Still, Danzou had managed to accomplish what he wanted. A shinobi who could perform jutsu routinely without hand signs or voiced commands. _'At what price, Danzou-sama?'_

He chuckled at Naruto's exuberance in defending him. It was clear he didn't like Suzuki, and he didn't blame him. Not many people did. A recently promoted Ne whose arrogance made him take it upon himself to oversee all training programs ruthlessly. But his lack of experience meant that he didn't understand the psychological side effects shinobi underwent.

He didn't understand, nor could he, Naruto's emotional scars. Why painting was necessary. Why detours sometimes were shorter than mindlessly droning yourself into oblivion.

"I think it's clear, Suzuki-san, that my son has completed training today."

Without another word, Naruto and Yamamura walked back home, leaving behind a stunned Ne Jounin.

…

When the reached home, his mother had prepared a special dinner. Both of them had been absent during the graduation exam on an extended week-long assignment. Some assassination of high importance; Naruto, naturally, was not privy on the details, but he understood well enough.

Still, he had missed them dearly afterwards. He wanted – _needed_ – someone to talk to about the exams. But they were both here today. And they were pulling out all the stops.

His mother ran up and embraced him in a giant hug, swirling him around. "My boy graduated! Congratulations, Kitsune-kun." She didn't bother signing this; her voice was strained with choked tears as it were. Kissing him on the forehead, she motioned to the table. "Come sit."

On the table was an elegant dinner prepared, composed of far more sweets than his mother would normally allow, but everyone understood this was a rather special occasion. A rain drop fell on the painting he was carrying.

_'That's odd... we're indoors – how can it be raining?'_ It was at that point he realized it wasn't rain... he was crying.

"I-I love you." He signed, wiping away tears.

…

His parents assured him that night that there was certainly no reason to become a mindless droid. Naruto didn't know this, but Danzou didn't want him to become one. That was the only reason he wasn't already. He was on a... different _track_ than most other Ne shinobi.

He described to them in detail about the battle. How his opponent was ridiculously fast, and that despite all his best attempts, he didn't have the time for a single fuuinjutsu. It was the time that required the preparation of each seal that made him so vulnerable. If only he had another copy of himself that could keep the enemy occupied while he could prepare the seals... Even in addition to that, he'd need a way to speed up his sealing.

Then, he finally got to the moment of the kill. His parents recognized immediately the difficulty he was having describing it, but despite their attempts at telling him to tell a different part, he didn't budge. He needed to have a conversation about it with someone... He needed their presence there.

"I had this... feeling... deep down, that begged me to kill him. And then it happened – honestly I don't even remember it all; it just happened so fast. I... I ripped out his heart." Naruto finally said. "It wasn't even a clean kill... Just a brutal one."

His mother stroked his hair gently. "Whatever happened, nothing changes about you. You're still our son. And we will always love you."

"Death is one of the things that, despite however long we live, humanity has not dealt with in a clean manner. There is no solution to heal your feelings. Some live by burying their feelings and never addressing them. That works for some. Others busy themselves in their own hobbies, and that's their only way of expressing themselves." His father offered kindly.

"It all depends on the person. But always know this – death is a mandate of our profession, and you should come to terms with it. In your own way." That was the part Danzou mandated him to say. Whenever Naruto brought up that subject, he was ordered to tell him this.

He spent the night in their bed, cuddled between their warm, comforting presences.

…

Chakra was a wonderful, beautiful thing. And even better was chakra control. For the first time in his life, Naruto realized just how much chakra he had. He flashed a foxy grin as he stuck, upside down, to the ceilings of the room.

And every day he was getting better at chakra control. Sure, the new training regimen with his parents was _brutal_, but it was paying off. Everyday he'd wake up sore. Everyday he'd go to bed thinking he'd be more sore in the morning.

If the taijutsu training wasn't bad enough, chakra control never seemed to end. He didn't really understand why, but the explanation his father gave suggested that he was special because, although he had a lot of chakra, his control was really bad. So if he got better, then it would mean he could use his already vast supply with even more prudence.

Fuuinjutsu had taken quite a detour at this point. The thing he loved most about seals was the amazing way they expressed creativity. He could come up with anything he wanted – anything at all – and he already had. But his new training focused purely on speed. Getting the time of each seal/un-seal down. Making it battle ready. Incorporating it with fight strategies... Things that, frankly, bored Naruto.

Jutsus, however, were taking their place in terms of providing excitement. He gobbled them up one after another with an unquenchable thirst. The more he learned, the more ways he could improve and augment his styles – and more importantly, his sealing.

Walking back to his room, he sighed. '_Not this again..._' His legs appeared to be severed. Evidently, he was caught in some form of genjutsu. He guessed it was most likely his mother. She wanted him to always be on high alert. But it was easily his greatest weakness, and despite everything she taught, he simply didn't know how to break it.

He quietly waited for it.

SMACK.

Right across the face.

"Why didn't you even _try_ to break that?" She scolded.

"Sorry okaa-san." He said dully, scrubbing the back of his head in pain. "I just don't _get_ it!"

…

Danzou needed a way to speed up Naruto's training... and fast. The boy needed to fend off some devastatingly strong enemies already. In ten months, he needed to accomplish two nearly impossible tasks.

Honestly, this wasn't in Danzou's style at all. He didn't engage in high-stakes, rapid-fire bets. He was slow, patient, and calculating. Impeccable, but slow. It would be much better if a certain Uchiha just left Konoha forever... He smirked.

With his resources? That could certainly be arranged. He just needed one of Uchiha Shisui's eyes... As a plan began to develop in Danzou's mind, another point of conflict caught his attention.

A certain Yamanaka would be joining the Academy soon. A Yamanaka who, to date, had been the only stimulus to positively provoke Naruto into using the Rinnegan's powers... A certain Yamanaka who held the key to his becoming Hokage.

Yes... this was more like it. Itachi would be framed and forced to leave Konoha. His plan to bait Akatsuki and infiltrate would be twisted into his actually joining Akatsuki. And the Uchihas? Well, there'd be no more of them, leaving his little Kitsune being the only hope of the shinobi universe ever had of laying hands on another Rinnegan.

…

"Today, you will have some... unorthodox training."

Naruto perked up. They _never_ had unorthodox training. Every day was the same. For the past three years.

"You are going into Konoha to keep tabs on a target. This is both an opportunity to grow – i.e. training – as well as your first mission. Here is the target. We have information that Iwa wants her dead, or at least get her as a hostage. The scrolls of this family are extremely vital, and the only heiress is a valuable negotiation tool. Use _any_ means necessary to protect her." Danzou handed him a folder.

Naruto bowed, smiling internally. Danzou never gave him freedom, on _any_ assignment. He could tell this wasn't just because he graduated. Naruto thought back to his latest pet project: voice control... In a couple months he'd have a way to get around the Hatsudenken.

Bowing, he left to his room to pick up the necessary items. When he was sure he was alone, he stopped to open the folder for the first time.

_'Protection detail... dangerous assassins... kill on sight... yada yada... Wait a minute... Is this...'_

And in big bold letters, with a photograph attached on the side, was the target.

A young, blonde girl adorned in purple was shown, smiling brightly. **Yamanaka Ino.** Naruto dropped his mask on the floor.

* * *

><p>I know, some of you may be upset that I didn't include a full fight scene, but I want that to be kind of a bad-ass Naruto enters the fray kind of scene that's going to happen in a later chapter =) So I kinda want his fighting style to be left a wee bit of a mystery for now. Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I sort of cut Naruto's time in Root isolation short a bit, but that honestly was some of the less eventful chapters, and it's no fun writing Naruto just being alone in Root without any interaction with some of the other characters we all love. =) So! I decided to end it in one chapter. He's obviously going to keep living underground in the Root complex, but I'd like him to interact more with the regular Naruto characters we all know and love.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes

Sorry it's been so long! New job, new city, had to move, then move again (yes, twice) etc – aka life in general. But I haven't given up on the story!

**Chapter 3**

Ino was having the _worst_ day of her life. Just because she had difficulty a _tiny_ bit of difficulty in some small kunoichi tasks, her father was considering waiting a _whole_ year to enroll her in the Academy. Didn't he understand that this was her chance to be with Sasuke? She shook her seven-year-old head furiously. Parents.

So what if she couldn't hold a kunai? Or really mould chakra... or arrange flowers properly... she sulked. Or really even remember the rankings of shinobi. Gah, who was she kidding? She deserved it. She shouldn't have goofed off so much.

She shook her head. Opening her window, she stared at the beautiful full moon outside. It illuminated the starry sky so wonderfully. Sighing, she wished she were a bird so she could simply escape. By the time morning came, her father would have decided.

And there was nothing she could do.

Turning back to her bed, she wondered if she should just fall asleep. What was the point, anyway? Well, might as well close the window. But when she approached the window, there was a note pinned to the wall by a sharpened senbon.

_Very_ ninja-like, Ino thought to herself. Gently pulling it off, she read it calmly.

'_Ino-chan. How have you been? I hope you haven't forgotten me. Here's a trick for holding kunai. - Kitsune_' On the bottom there was a small drawing of a kunai with a stick figure hand. It bulged out oddly for the fingers to illustrate better.

The handwriting seemed... almost like her own. Childish. Kiddy. And then Ino gasped as the memories came back. Kitsune-kun! Kitsune-kun, the mysterious ANBU Root recruit who her own father conceded must have been _very_ skilled. Kitsune-kun, the one who had saved her back then. Ino smiled. All of a sudden, it didn't matter too much whether or not she was with Sasuke, or whether she went to the academy in such a hurry.

Perhaps it would all turn out okay. She closed her eyes and lay on her bed, still smiling as she fell into a wonderful sleep.

…

Okay, so the note wasn't the best. But Naruto didn't really know how to address her. Honestly, he didn't even know if she would remember him. From her reaction, he surmised she did. _Definitely_. And then there was this weird feeling he kept having around her. His stomach was on edge. Paying attention to every move she did.

She certainly was pretty.

He shook it off. He was ROOT. He didn't have time for this. And frankly, it didn't matter. If the girl _was_ in mortal peril, he'd need to focus. Scouting her daily schedule yesterday didn't reveal too many recurring patterns. Frankly, she did whatever she wanted to. He frowned. Did normal people all live in such a... disorganized manner?

If she had a desire, she promptly asked her mother, who, in turn, would either respond to a yes or no at random. He shook his head. The decisions made next to no sense. The mother said she couldn't go with her father to work because it may be dangerous, and yet she allowed her daughter to go unaccompanied to a pink-haired girl's house. He frowned.

Why would she be less safe surrounding her own father than with a group of civilians? Especially if someone were after her...

"Normal" people confused Naruto to no end. Regardless, he had a mission to do. He turned his attention to the intel he had on the girl. She was about to join the Ninja Academy. If she joined, her routine would become far more regulated. There was a strong possibility of being successful in protecting her whilst going unnoticed. He'd have to pray that her father decided to let her enroll.

He sighed. This mission was far more trouble than it was worth. He was getting behind on his training regimen. No, he couldn't afford to think like that. After all, this was the culmination of everything he was being trained for. His first mission. He couldn't afford to fail.

…

"Well, what did you discover after a day of reconnaissance?"

"She has absolutely no pattern in her daily routine. It will be difficult to guard her. Each day is entirely random. She is currently sleeping – her father and mother, both adept ninja, are there with her. I doubt Iwa will attack now. Most likely when she is alone."

"A good analysis. But you are ignoring one possibility." Danzou replied.

Kitsune paused in thought. "She is already being attacked, then? Some sort of untraceable, slow poison?" There was a slight tension in his voice as he suggested this. If this were happening, he'd have to hurry. There wasn't enough time.

Danzou smirked. He was glad Naruto came to this conclusion all on his own. Certainly, he was flat out wrong this time. But that was because he was supposed to be. A good Ne agent always has a good sense a paranoia to sense things out of the ordinary, and the first thing for Naruto would be to make paranoid at all times. Always on the lookout.

"We have new intelligence."

The aquamarine orbs behind the mask were as wide as possible now. "You've located the shinobi..." he whispered.

The boy's instincts were good. Danzou turned over three pages. "Their profiles in the Bingo Book."

Missing nins? Low level, no doubt. But missing nonetheless. Kitsune didn't bother grabbing the pages on the table. It didn't matter who they were. It didn't matter what techniques they were using. He would burn them alive. This emotion... the anger he was feeling. He was _seething_.

Interesting. Danzou wasn't going to stop Naruto. Not this time. If this is what it took for the Rinnegan to manifest itself, then so be it. "You'll find them at the edge of the Great Falls."

That was all it took before a golden flash disappeared.

"Take the prisoners there before Kitsune arrives." Danzou whispered with a dangerous silence.

…

Uchiha Itachi was faced with a decision that very few in history have ever faced. Oddly enough, it wasn't difficult for him to choose. He had never been particularly attached to many of the people in his life. Nevertheless, one had to pause before taking choices of such magnitude.

Discarding everything. Slipping away. Perhaps it was a process that had already begun. Sighing, he asked one more time in an exasperated voice. "There is _absolutely_ no other way?"

Sarutobi shook his head with a great solemnness. "I am so very, very sorry, Itachi-kun."

"Very well." The ANBU captain in him came out now. "I will contact the rumored Rinnegan user as well. It will be good to start a long term relation..."

The Sandaime nodded. "As for Danzou, how are his plans coming along?"

"He has young Uzumaki-sama under his spell for now. It will take some time to break it. He has a strange friendship kindling for the Yamanaka heiress. Give me ten months and I can place him in your custody."

"Quite an ambitious plan, considering the timetable we have for your clan as well as the Akatsuki predicament."

Itachi shook his head. "My duty is to the village. If I could do more, I would. Fortunately, the two missions overlap quite a bit. I believe my leaving will help him understand."

Sarutobi nodded. "I trust your judgement. Should you fail, we may have to crack a harder whip."

The Uchiha's raven locks shook. "_That_ would be an ugly option indeed."

Yes, memory seals were never pretty. They often had damaging effects on cognition, sometimes altered personalities, and even inhibited certain emotions. If Naruto had gotten particularly attached to Danzou, it would be difficult to get him out of the man's grasp. No doubt they'd have to send a squad of ANBU. Sighing, the old Hokage decided it would be best to pray Itachi succeeded.

…

The man had forgotten his name long ago. He was simply known by Danzou-sama as number 567. He'd been trained with all the Ne principles. And for the first time, he'd be putting them to use. He winced as his blindfolds were taken off for the first time in months. He was outside. Looking around, he saw three of his compatriots. Numbers 392, 480 and 113.

The mission description was simple. Kill an inside traitor by the name of Kitsune. He would be wearing a fox mask. They had good intel indicating he was likely to camp out in the waterfalls. Nodding to his teammates, they all took covers in separate bushes. All except for him. He stayed out in the open to lure him.

The most important thing was gauging Kitsune's abilities. Precious little was known about Kitsune; Danzou himself had told 567 that the man was a missing ninja from Kiri. Elemental affinity, unknown. Strengths, unknown. Any information they could get on him would be valuable. And if he had to die for Kitsune to reveal his jutsus, so be it.

113 was camouflaged in a bush. He and his compatriots had made sure to keep their chakra levels suppressed to prevent detection. Still, they couldn't detect anything. He looked up at the sun. Nearly noon. Intelligence had said the missing ninja would be here any moment.

567 turned to face the bush 113 was hidden in, smiling as if to say Kitsune would be too scared to show his face. Suddenly, a hand emerged from his chest and, smile still etched on his face, 567's body fell face first into the mud revealing the murderer standing behind him.

Kitsune held the heart in his hand for a moment before crushing it. The dead organ landed next to 567's body with a fatal thud. The missing ninja turned to examine his blood stained hand for a moment.

113's body froze. That speed was unheard of. There was no warning, no chakra buildup. No tell at all. It was almost like the Yondaime himself was here.

...

Slow, calm breaths, relishing the air that flowed through his lungs. Any remorse Naruto initially felt was gone along with the hesitation. This was personal, and he was enjoying it. The fear in the man's eyes, his muffled screams. The second one was sloppy. He just grazed the carotid artery, and the neck began to spurt blood like a fountain, covering him in a sea of red. The white mask was no doubt drenched in blood along with his clothes. He looked around. Intelligence had said there were only four, but he sensed a fifth one.

This one was better. A lot better. The others had been Chuunin, some upper level Chuunin. Naruto was almost excited. He would be the one with the information. He'd have to secure this one alive if there was ever hope of ensuring Ino's safety. His eyes narrowed. A challenge, then. Calming himself, he closed his eyes and took deep, slow breaths. _There_.

Naruto rushed after the shinobi, but the presence didn't retreat. Close and closer Naruto pushed forward, but the chakra signature stayed its ground. Finally, Naruto landed right in front and feinted an uppercut – stopping when his fist was mere hairs from the enemy's face. The figure hadn't moved an inch.

Out of sheer curiosity, Naruto backed away to get a better look at this fifth individual. He wore an ANBU mask, but Naruto instinctively knew he was not Ne. No, this was one of the Hokage's ANBU officers. He stood his ground almost lazily, yet staring intensely at Naruto. Somehow, Naruto knew there was more to behind those blazing red eyes than just the paralyzing killer intent he was experiencing.

_Uchiha..._

He had, of course, heard of the famous Sharingan and the dangers it could pose on the battlefield. Ne was mostly focused as a defense based organization to protect the villagers from anything Danzou-sama thought was a threat, and so they had yet to discuss internal Konoha secrets. But Naruto had been itching for a real challenge, so he'd spent many hours trying to develop his own strategies. It was obvious, really. If ninjutsu could be copied and genjutsu could be broken, he had only one thing left to rely on. _Fuuinjutsu_.

But the ANBU evidently had other plans. Strangely enough, the man darted away, hopping from tree to tree. After several minutes Naruto realized the pace wasn't nearly fast enough to be an escape. _He's leading me somewhere._ They stopped at a small clearing and Naruto's stomach sank. It couldn't be.

Ino was tied against a tree, unconscious. Itachi pulled out a dagger.

Naruto bolted into action. He knew, instinctively what had to be done. Hundreds of hours of practice flew out of his mind and where Ne's creed once existed as a solid testament, stood nothing; none of that mattered. A single, focused objective existed in his being: protect Ino.

His heart commanded, and his body followed. The ANBU's body was suddenly pushed away by a mysterious force, and Naruto seamlessly placed himself in front of Ino. The mysterious shinobi launched one of the largest Katon-fireballs Naruto had ever seen, but his body knew what to do. In a miraculous move, he simply placed his hand out and dissapated the chakra. And in that moment, he could see the truth behind everything.

Looking at the nunekin, he saw not a body but a glowing mass of chakra. A deep breath later, Naruto's hand was gripping the top of the shinobi's head. Closing his eyes, he pulled at the mass of chakra he felt beneath the skull, ripping it from the coils. And in that instant, he was immersed in foreign, alien thoughts.

_Save Uzumaki-sama_, he heard echo throughout his brain. _Teach him..._ The echo was louder, almost deafeningly so. Unsure of what trap this was, he pulled out the chakra completely, knowing it would kill the man instantly.

But in that moment the world faded away. Ino, along with the clearing and the strange shinobi disappeared, and a familiar feeling of wooziness returned to Naruto. _Genjutsu_. Ino was never in any harm. Naruto had never stood a chance against this ANBU. He was caught in the illusion from the moment he made eye contact. It was unlike any illusion he had experienced before; no tell-tale signs, no chakra signature changes. A perfect replication of reality. Looking around, he found himself sitting on the forest floor in an almost meditative posture.

"Think on what you have learned, Naruto-kun."

The words were spoken without malice or arrogance, as if an old, trusted friend were advising him. The man knew his former name, and he was very, very good. Immediately afterwards, the man disappeared.

Realizing that he had been holding his breath, Naruto exhaled, suddenly feeling exhausted. He didn't bother to follow the ANBU.

…

Naruto ignored the knocks on the door. By now there was no doubt his parents would have heard that he stormed into his room without even bothering to report to Danzou. Danzou, mysteriously enough, hadn't even bothered to get the mission status. It was obvious the entire thing had been a setup. Using Naruto's... fondness for Ino, Danzou had staged the entire thing. Which meant he had killed those people for no reason.

Naruto had been locked in his room for nearly a week now, and for good reason. His world was crumbling beneath him. Ne had always been the bedrock of his life. He never had a reason to question Danzou or even disagree with the man, with everything he'd done for Kitsune. Killing off Uzumaki Naruto was the best thing that ever happened to him.

There was another set of knocks on the door – this one markedly louder and more frustrated than the preceding ones, but Naruto shrugged them off, too.

But now, at nearly eight years of age, those words the old man had spoken about sacrifice and doing what was necessary were beginning to crystalize. Fuzzy concepts were beginning to materialize into an overarching, harsh reality: Naruto was still very much alive. As much as he'd pretend otherwise, shreds of the old self were still clinging inside of him. The truth was he'd had one foot out the door the entire time at Ne. Always smirking at the lessons, always secretly holding onto his feelings. Naruto was certain Danzou was aware of this, but for whatever reason, the man was more lenient on Naruto than most initiates. In actuality, Uzumaki Naruto wasn't dead. Just buried.

And for that, if this had been a real mission, Ino Yamanaka would have paid the price. He knew intelligence was often faulty. How could he have missed the obvious signs? After tailing the girl for nearly a week, there were zero signs of any real danger. Danzou had, in a simple way, illustrated how blind he was when it came to the girl. He wasn't thorough like he normally was. And it struck Naruto to the core.

He _wanted_ to be angry with Danzou – the man had lied, after all. Danzou played dirty. It may all be in his best intentions, and it may even sometimes be for the best, but he did whatever it took to get his way. And then there was the guilt. Naruto was an open, easily manipulatable book. And his connection with Ino would do nothing but put her in further jeopardy. Perhaps Sai was right after all. It was time he embraced the real Ne. No more emotions, no more connections. Only the task at hand. After all, if after everything Danzou-sama had done for him, he still wasn't happy – well, then that was _his_ problem and not Danzou's.

Cursing himself, he remembered the horrible life he'd had outside of Ne. That was about to change. It was time to end it all. No more reservations. Ne gave him a family, a fresh start filled with love. It had given him shelter and food and clean clothes. Ne had given him strength and knowledge. Ne had given him a community. And all it asked in return was the last shreds that held Uzumaki Naruto.

Was that really such a steep price?

He paused momentarily to consider the mysterious ANBU – the ANBU who, despite what Danzou had said, knew his birth name. Recalling the man's words, he asked himself the same question. What _had_ he learned from the fight? That his ties with the people he loved had made him weak. Naruto's resolve strengthened. It was time to cut them.

He heard the door opening. He turned to face who he knew to be an exasperated Ishida, but he was instead met with Danzou's stern visage.

"Danzou-sama," he bowed. "I am ready," Naruto offered without explanation.

From the ghost of a smile that haunted Danzou's lips, Naruto knew the commander understood.

"Then do what must be done."

…

The Academy was all that Ino could have hoped for and more. The embraced every lesson, eagerly ingesting the new information. Her dream to become a kunoichi had finally begun, and she'd be darned if she wasn't going to put all of herself into it.

Ino eagerly waited at the edge of the Academy playground. The sensei had been very impressed by her kunai skills, but she had been too flustered and selfish to admit who she really learned it from. A part of her didn't want to talk about Kitsune at all; she wanted to keep him to herself. The thought that he might be helping others in the same way terrified her, and she preferred to stick with her fantasy.

She heard the whistle that signaled that break was over, but she hid behind a tree instead, opting to not resume class. Today was special. Today was the day her Kitsune was coming to meet her once more. She'd been eager in anticipation for this day. Her father had told her that many early ANBU initiates take a vow of silence to protect the village, and instead they use sign language to communicate. Giddy with eagerness, she had been practicing sign and knew few enough words to make shoddy sentences.

Without warning, Kitsune arrived. The blonde hair behind the mask was unmistakable.

Shyly, she approached him. _Hello Kitsune-kun_.

Kitsune took a step back. Perhaps he was surprised that Ino had begun to learn sign.

_Hello, Yamanaka-san_.

She frowned. Something was wrong. _I've been waiting for you_.

_We can no longer be friends. Good bye._

"W-Wait! Please!" She spoke in hushed urgency. Tears were falling. Why was he doing this? "I've been waiting for you for so long. Ever since that day, I haven't forgotten."

The sign was too complicated to read this time, but Ino distinctly caught the words 'fat' and 'pig' – words that she'd only looked up because a pink-haired girl at the Academy had made fun of her the day before. Words that she had intended on confiding in her closest, secret friend. Words that her secret friend had used against her.

In a fit of tears, a young Ino collapsed on the ground. She didn't notice the tear behind Kitsune's mask.

It would be the last time she would see the boy for nearly four years.

* * *

><p>So I know that chapter was shorter than usual, but it was mainly my way of saying I haven't given up this story! Life has just been... life. :) I am doing my best, but it's hard to keep up sometimes. I'll try and update more frequently now though! Sorry for the long wait :( And what better way to express my sorrow than to end on a tragic chapter? :P<p>

See you soon,

Haitorei ~


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter was a toughie! I want Inoichi to evolve just as much as every other character because, let's face it – parenthood is _hard_. Raising a child is not easy, and most people learn as they go. So I'm hoping that over the next couple chapters we can see Inoichi grow just as much as Naruto / Ino.

Of course, some of the Inoichi sections in this chapter are meant to be just comic relief ;)

The last thing to keep in mind is that _not_ all sections (the parts between the ellipses) are in chronological order here. Rather, I put them in an order where it would be nice for presentation. They are _roughly_ within the same time period (same couple months) but not exact days; so if you see one week here and three weeks there, don't lose your heads. I know – I keep a timeline.

Okay, hopefully two chapters in a row is enough to convince you all that I'm back! :) Enjoy!

**Chapter 3**

Itachi blanched at the meal in front of him. With the prospect of his first mission failure in years looming, even onigiri didn't seem remotely appetizing. Uzumaki Naruto was a puzzle he couldn't understand. He had shown the boy hidden powers. He had proven how his connection to Ino invoked these powers within himself. Even if Danzou had not revealed to Naruto the possibility – no, the _probability_ – of the Rinnegan, how could Naruto have simply overlooked the facts?

Was he truly so dense?

Itachi shook his head. No, the boy was not a fool. And yet, he did a complete reversal and cut off all ties with the Yamanaka girl, otherwise the only person who had ever brought out traces of the ultimate bloodline limit in the boy. How could he have missed the most _obvious_ fact that a shinobi was most powerful when he has something to protect?

_Because he did not grow up with Hokage-sama_, Itachi reminded himself. Itachi thought back to when he himself was eight years old. He was just entering the Chuunin exams with a freshly mastered three-tomoe sharingan. He would have given anything for more power. A faint smile graced Itachi's face. No, Uzumaki-sama was no fool at all. In fact, Itachi realized, he was perhaps a wiser shinobi than anyone he had met.

The boy was so concerned with the danger in which he had inadvertently placed the Yamanaka girl that he didn't even bother considering his own latent powers. No doubt the feelings that Ino induced in the boy were so benevolent that Uzumaki Naruto would never make the decisions that Itachi himself had made with Shishui in pursuing the Mangekyo Sharingan. It was simply unacceptable in Naruto's mind, so the boy did the only thing he could to protect the girl.

Forcibly cut himself out of her life.

A part of him was jealous – truly envious. Naruto was able to do the most difficult act imaginable at eight years of age, and here, faced with the same task, Itachi was struggling. Itachi had another eight months to enjoy with his family, but the constant dread that filled was almost overwhelming at times. He wondered how that night would come. He wondered if he would – _could_ – cut himself so completely out of Sasuke's life.

A part of him wasn't sure.

He absent-mindedly chewed the onigiri. Somehow, in attempting to teach Uzumaki Naruto a lesson, Itachi was the one who learned.

But failure on this particular mission was not an option. He had been careless; Itachi approached the boy as he would a normal eight year-old, or perhaps himself when he was that age. That would not happen again. The real enigma would be finding out what motivated Naruto. It wasn't power or money or fame – classic shinobi motivations. Itachi had assumed it would be love, but then the boy surprised him once more by closing the door on Ino.

What was it that Kakashi-senpai always said?

Ah yes. Something about looking underneath the underneath.

…

"Under no circumstances is he to deviate from his training. I have let the training staff know of the exemption I've given the... Yamamura household." The words were spoken softly but carefully.

Kitsune's ears twitched. He'd already activated the seal, and the amplified noises from the living room provided him a pristine listening environment. Danzou and his father. His mother was no doubt present as well, but she had yet to voice any concerns. That was her style.

"I intend on having Kitsune become a full operational member in eight months time."

Whatever that meant, Kitsune could tell it was serious because his mother finally decided to speak up.

"_Eight_ months? Danzou-sama, he just barely turned eight."

"As I am sure you are aware, this is no ordinary eight year-old. Follow the training regimen I have provided, and he will be ready." There was a certain grave finality the tone carried that stopped all discussion for nearly a full minute. At the end of the silence, Danzou continued. "I have been lenient in allowing you to oversee his training because you and Yamamura have shown remarkable progress with the boy. If I happen to find out that you have been sabotaging this deadline in anyway, rest assured such privileges will readily be withdrawn."

Kitsune smirked; Danzou certainly was fond of tradition, large words, and complex sentence structures.

"Hai, Danzou-sama." It was his father this time.

When Kitsune knew it was safe, he opened the door and stepped out. Usually Ishida would frown and sign whether he'd been "using that useless damn idiot seal" to eavesdrop, Yamamura would chuckle and shake his head, and Naruto would give an abashed grin to cheekily get out of a spanking. But this time neither of them reacted at first.

Slowly, Ishida bent down to make herself eye-level with Kitsune. Her hands were shaking as she signed, and at first Kitsune couldn't even understand the words.

_Kitsune... Kitsune-kun, you know we love you right? We _love_ you, and no matter what happens, you are our son._

If Kitsune wasn't worried before, her certainly was now. He didn't understand why becoming a fully operational member was such a big deal. If anything, he would have assumed they'd be proud – it meant he could take on real missions like they did, that he would be going outside the Ne complex more often, that his training would be complete. Why weren't they happy?

_I – I love you, too, Okaa-san._

Kitsune looked to his father for direction, but found anger in the man's eyes for the first time. He didn't say a word, opting to leave the house entirely. Kitsune would have followed, but Ishida hugged Kitsune tightly and began to cry.

"My baby, oh my poor baby..." The bawls were interlaced with frequent kisses to his forehead.

_Ano, Okaa-san, are you alright?_

…

Inoichi was staring at his daughter in disbelief. He knew what he was getting into when the nurse told him he'd be having a daughter, but for Kami's sake she was _eight_. The teenage diet craze wasn't support to start for another five years! He was promised another five years of sanity!

When he begged his wife to talk some sense into their daughter, she simply smiled and said, "She's growing up."

Well, not if he had anything to say about it. If only there were a jutsu to freeze time, so Inoichi could enjoy his daughter's childhood for a little while longer. Yet there she was, growing up right in front of his face! How dare she? No, he decided shaking his head. She was still his little princess – for goodness sake, she still took afternoon _naps_. When his wife muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "men!" Inoichi lost his last shred of patience.

"Ino, you will eat everything you are given!" He scolded seriously. "None of this dieting nonsense – you are still growing."

But it became evident that after three hours of staring at her food, Ino would actually _not_ eat her food, Inoichi had to acquiesce to his daughter's new craze. It wasn't until another week that the Yamanaka patriarch had a clue as to what caused the sudden shift in his daughter.

After dropping his daughter off at the Academy, he was walking back when he heard "Hey look it's the piggy! Ooh, fat little Ino!" But despite everything, the insufferable Academy instructors would not let him in. Something about learning how to cope without constant parental interference. Honestly, what was the world coming to when a father couldn't protect his daughter anymore? Besides, he wasn't going to interfere for the rest of her life – just for the next several years. She was still so young! Could she handle a school argument? He doubted it.

Grumpily, he vowed to instead talk to her about it tonight. He had no idea that kids bullied her at school! And then, a dark, evil thought entered his mind. _'She's growing up.' If she's hiding this from you, what else could she be hiding?_ Suddenly, every boy within three years of Ino's age sprouted devil horns, but when Inoichi rubbed his eyes and looked again the horns were gone. Why was the whole world against him? Which kami had he angered?

Mentally noting to go see an eye doctor, he marched home.

What was the word that Shikaku always used? Oh yeah...

Women were so...

_Troublesome_.

…

Danzou observed Naruto from the shadows, still uncertain if whether the standard Ne regimen was a good idea for the boy. For whatever reason, Naruto had flocked back to him with an increased eagerness. The renewed determination was helping him master ninjutsu at an unprecedented rate, true, but ninjutsu was not the ultimate goal. Ordinary jutsu would be a pathetic distraction from his true potential, and whether or not Danzou was any closer to achieving _that_ was unknown.

It was a well known fact that the Sharingan was usually unlocked only in moments of great crisis. If that truly was the case, then perhaps the ceremony in eight months would do the same for Kitsune. He shook his head. No, he wasn't thinking long-term enough. His plan to discredit Uchiha Itachi was already underway, which meant that the man's deadline was irrelevant. By that time, the ex-ANBU would have more to worry about than Kitsune.

He ducked to avoid the explosion from Kitsune's latest lightning jutsu. There was no tell-tale chakra buildup that time. He smiled. The method was working. Slowly but surely, Kitsune was beginning to understand the very nature of chakra. Without handseals, without the slightest tell, he was able to cast moderately powerful jutsu. Soon enough, he would reach heights not seen since the Shodaime Hokage.

For the moment, though, taijutsu and genjutsu were hopeless. Sharingan users had no issue with illusion techniques, as they could see through chakra. Danzou could only hope that the Rinnegan would have the same effect. But in the mean time, Kitsune was hopelessly vulnerable.

Danzou's research into the older Senju styles of combat was nearing its conclusion; soon, Naruto would have to add that to his already booked regimen. His gut told him the boy would absorb the information readily.

…

The Sandaime took a deep, meditative puff of his pipe. This complicated matters. It wasn't often that Itachi failed in anything, and perhaps that was a luxury the Sandaime had begun to take for granted after all these years.

Still, this was no ordinary foe. Danzou was his own teammate. A wily, experienced enemy who always pretended to be a friend. _Is_ a friend, Sarutobi mentally corrected. A friend who was led down the wrong path, but still held responsibility. A misguided one, but at heart always had Konoha's best interests.

He sighed. The past was the past. But then why did it always rear its ugly head in the present? Danzou was not planning on letting Naruto free before Itachi was conveniently out of Konoha permanently. Which meant, even more troublingly, that he was intending on Naruto to go through the old ways. The ways that he and Danzou had grown up in. Ways that Sarutobi fully intended on stamping out in his efforts to humanize the shinobi lifestyle.

He thought about taking action himself. But that would result in uncomfortable questions. Questions like why a Hokage would get involved on behalf of some orphan... Questions like what was special about this particular orphan. And that would defeat the whole purpose of getting Naruto away from Danzou's grasp.

No, this had to be done discretely. But how?

Perhaps that would be something Itachi would have to figure out himself. He had to travel to Suna to renew the treaty, deal with rumors of a new shinobi village starting, and finalize acquisition of the satellite Tea Country villages. He paused briefly to consider whether Itachi was out of his depth when it came to Danzou.

No. Besides, Sarutobi had told the boy 'any means necessary'. Perhaps an additional status update wouldn't hurt, the worried hokage decided.

…

"Dad, I don't care what _Forehead_ thinks of my figure."

Inoichi blinked. He hadn't even known Sakura and Ino had been fighting – now they weren't even using each other's _names_.

"Mom! Get him to understand!"

The emergency family meeting hadn't been going according to plan. At all. In his mind, Inoichi had envisioned calmly disclosing to his daughter that he knew what the other kids had been calling Ino, a with a well-worded, wise lecture about self-confidence, and a warm, loveable ending that involved Ino agreeing to receive proper nutrition.

Instead, things were derailed as soon as Inoichi disclosed he had been, in Ino's words, "eavesdropping on her friends." How was it that kids who picked on her, kids whose names she wouldn't even _speak_, and who were enemies by every definition of the word suddenly became friends when he, her father, was involved? Setting aside this particular headache for another day, he focused on the current issue at hand.

A soft hand placed itself on his shoulder. "Inoichi," the love of his life began. "It's a school fight. Remember how many of those we used to have? Kids fight. She'll get through this."

He sighed. "I just don't understand why you suddenly don't eat anymore."

"Give her some time. She doesn't trust us enough right now."

Yes, yes that made – wait what? His wife was guilt tripping their daughter? That, in Inoichi's mind, settled things. Women were evil. They were all evil – and the worst part was they could curse men into loving them with all their heart. Half in admiration, half in horror, he watched the scene unfold (all the while noting the smug smirk on his wife's face that practically screamed "and_ that's_ how you handle children...").

"I – I do... I do trust you guys." Ino suddenly hugged both of them. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you worry!"

Inoichi couldn't help but smile. _This_ was how he envisioned the scene ending in his head.

"Kitsune-kun..."

The Ne operative? Inoichi had completely forgotten about him.

"I've been meeting with him a couple times. He taught me how to hold and throw kunani, and he's helped me out a lot. He was my best friend." The last part was significantly more quiet.

"What happened?"

"He... He told me a week ago that we can't be friend anymore. And he... He called me a fat pig."

So _that's_ what it was. Sakura and the others Ino could handle, but her best friend calling her that. Inoichi pushed aside the irritation that the boy had been secretly meeting his daughter without Inoichi knowing. Inoichi considered the options. Well, they were already emotionally blackmailing their daughter – what harm could lying add? He pulled her onto his lap, stroking her hair like he used to.

"Ino-chan," he began uncertainly. "There's something you need to know about Ne. People like Kitsune are trained in a very brutal way. When they're close to graduation, they are required to do certain things..." Yes, Inoichi thought. This would be believable enough. Enough to help her out of this slump and get her back on her feet. What harm could a white lie cause, anyway? "Like say goodbye to everyone they love. This is to make sure he cannot be blackmailed on a mission. By losing all ties, the enemy can no longer predict his motivations, you understand?"

Inoichi felt guilty for deceiving his daughter. More than likely, the boy would be dead within several years as most Root operatives were. That was why the Sandaime Hokage had curtailed Danzou's normally extensive privileges and instituted an increased oversight. Still, the man was a respected elder of Konoha and a war hero on more than one occasion. From what the elder Yamanaka knew about Ne, that Kitsune boy more than likely had no emotional capacity whatsoever. Wherever he was, he was Danzou's tool solely and completely. But that wasn't his problem. In a couple years, Ino would forget Kitsune completely.

Ino seemed to be totally silent.

"Most likely, he was ordered to say goodbye to you. He only said those things about you to make you forget him... Because most likely, he won't ever see you again – any of us again. He'll be taking high ranking missions from now on."

Ino was quiet for a long time. Then, with a sudden fire in her eyes, "Then I'll help him. I'll become a great kunoichi and join him on those missions!"

Her father smiled and kissed her. "That's a great idea. Come, let's eat so you can get big and strong."

She grabbed her father's arm and walked towards the dining room. She wasn't sure whether he was taking her seriously or not. But it didn't matter. Ino _would_ become strong. Strong enough to bring Kitsune back. Strong enough to change all of Ne, if she had to.

Strong enough to set him free.

…

**ATTENTION**

If any of you can guess what becoming "a full operational member" entails and give a short reason of_ why_ you thought that, I will give you an exclusive detail-spoiler about the story: the exact chapter number that Ino realizes Kitsune is Naruto. Leave a review with your guess (I read every single review, believe it or not).

The reason I am doing this is _not_ because I crave reviews (read my other stories that average 1-2 reviews per chapter – believe me, I do not). It is because I want to improve my writing when it comes to plot twists. Plot twists are _very_ difficult to write, and this is a minor one (several major ones are coming down the pipeline!) So in preparation for them, I want to see how this one is going.

I have no doubt that some of you have already guessed what is going to happen – if that is the case, please help me out. Leave a review explaining what you think it is, and _why_ (what sections _of my writing_) gave away too much, gave away too little, etc.

Thank you so much! Reviews really do help me improve my writing.

Best,

Haitorei ~


	6. Chapter 6

Initially, I _was_ going to offer another, smaller prize for guessing what happens – as the reveal is next chapter – but since two people _already_ guessed correctly, I decided to not do so. But if any of you could offer advice on writing plot twists, that would be greatly appreciated!

Oh – and happy new year! :)

Hope you enjoy!

Haitorei~

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

"Kitsune," Yamamura whispered. Years of being on the streets had made his son an incredibly light sleep who woke by instinct. In fact, Kitsune's first seal was a silencing seal around the bedroom so he could get a good night's rest.

Sure enough, the small whisper was enough to whirl the Ne trainee into consciousness.

Yamamura reverted back to sign once his son finished rubbing his eyes. '_There will come a time to open this. It can only be opened by your blood._' He placed the small box on his son's lap. '_I can only ask that you do not open it before that time._'

Kitsune looked into his father's eyes and saw a surprising sternness. Usually his father was the joker in the family. '_Ano, does Okaa-san know about this?_' He hated hiding things from Ishida. It just... felt wrong. In his gut. He couldn't explain it.

Yamamura looked straight into his eyes and nodded.

'_But... when will I know?_'

Yamamura gave the boy a sad smile. '_You will know._' And he left the boy to his thoughts.

Kitsune stared into the box. He could see the chakra flickering. A sudden urge was compelling him to undo the seal. He probably could. He was talented enough, and blood seals weren't so complex. Then the paranoia hit him. What if someone else cracked into the box? No, he couldn't have that. Not about this – something that meant so much to his parents.

Staring into the chakra workings, he realized the seal was trivially simple. _No, that won't do at all_. He'd have to increase the protections. Yamamura and Ishida had given him presents before, but never one like this. He could tell this one was special.

It would be uncrackable by anyone besides him by the time he was done with it.

…

The solution was obvious, Itachi realized. He simply had to look into what he himself would do. In four months time, his family would be dead, and everyone would assume him to be a mass murderer incapable of love. Itachi would, of course, assume the face of a cold killer with no emotional ties. This made him especially difficult to blackmail and harder to anticipate given that few could know his true desires.

Why, then, would Uzumaki-sama do anything different concerning Yamanaka Ino?

He smiled. Obviously, the boy was playing a facade of uncaring indifference, but Itachi knew he still cared instinctively. Which meant that it was not over. It was time he showed Uzumaki-sama the true nature of things.

But how to get him out of Root headquarters? Danzou was no idiot. He would not let Uzumaki-sama out of his sight, if he could help it. Danzou himself hardly ever left the village, and rarely the Ne headquarters for anything short of a council meeting. But that wouldn't do – the next meeting wasn't for several months, and by then it would be too late.

He briefly considered whether he could forge a council meeting, but it wasn't a good idea. Too many loose ends, and if he tried to speak with another council member, it would quickly be discovered that this meeting was a fake. The worst part was Danzou's unrelenting paranoia. The man was convinced was was always on the horizon, and someone so easily spooked would be on the constant lookout as soon as he smelled trouble.

Which meant Itachi would have to sneak into Ne. Theoretically, not too difficult.

Theoretically...

…

It was a rare day indeed that Danzou offered to personally oversee anyone's training, so when Yamamura informed Naruto that Ne's leader would be taking over for the day, Kitsune could hardly sleep. He showed up to practice half an hour early just to calm his nerves. His interactions with the man were limited to mission briefings and eavesdropping. For him to be taking an interest personally in Naruto's training... He wasn't sure what he felt about that.

Whatever emphasis Danzou had placed on punctuality, the man was clearly a hypocrite. It had been thirty-five minutes, but he still hadn't shown up. Kitsune was just about to leave out of spite, when a sharp voice broke the silence.

"Evidently your mother was not exaggerating when she said you have absolutely no talent for genjutsu whatsoever."

_Dammit_. A test, of course. How could he have been so dense? Sure enough, the genjutsu passed and revealed Danzou standing right in front of him – as he probably had been for the past five minutes.

Danzou didn't seem to notice Kitsune's internal beratings, however. "You will not find my teachings like any of your ordinary training. Forgive my lack of modesty, but my time is far too valuable to oversee any such activities, and you have no want for qualified teachers in that area. My time with you is meant purely for addressing your greatest weaknesses and giving you a strategy to go forward and execute on your own time. Understood?" But Danzou didn't bother to wait for a signal from Kitsune. Instead, he dived into the topic at hand. "Do you know why Genjutsu is such a devastating set of techniques?"

Naruto paused. He hadn't given that much thought. '_Because it gets the enemy off-guard?_' He signed. A standard answer. A shot in the dark.

"It's because it exploits the most fundamental flaw in the human brain. Can you guess what it is?"

Kitsune paused, staring at the man. His training style was most... unorthodox for someone so steeped in tradition. Still, this was one of his fundamental weaknesses, and there must have been a reason for why the man would spend so much time with _him_ of all people.

"Let me assist you, then. Why does one wake up, shivering in fear, from nightmares that aren't real? Why does one smile at a happy daydream? Why does visualizing success help achieve tangible success?"

'_The brain is not... not based on reality, but feelings?_'

"No, the difference is even more fundamental: the brain cannot separate reality from conjecture."

Kitsune's eyes widened. When phrased that way, it became immeasurably obvious as to why genjutsu would be a devastating tactic.

"As far as the brain is concerned, what it _believes_ it has experienced and what it has _actually_ experienced are identical. Let me tell you a story of a soldier who was caught by the enemy. Much like you, he was incredibly powerful – far too powerful to be kept prisoner for long – but, much like you, he was susceptible to genjutsu. So the enemy had a plan. They would simply release him back to his village, modulo some minor mental changes.

"What they did, you see, was use a special kind of long-term genjutsu. Using a squad of six people, they kept him under watch for a week straight with sleeping pills, and filled his mind with genjutsus that convinced him that all of his family were dead. Instead, the people who looked like his family and friends were actually enemy shinobi who had henged to catch him off guard. After eight days of constant genjutsu, they dropped him off at his own home as part of a treaty exchange.

"On the ninth day, the Massacre of Kiri took place."

Kitsune winced. Even he knew the Massacre of Kiri – one of the legendary Swordsmen of the Mist who killed two hundred of his allies in a brutal slaughter.

"With that single move, Konoha had successfully eliminated Kiri from the first great shinobi war." Danzou smiled at Kitsune's surprise. "I impress on you these facts to let you know how crucial it is that you understand and come to terms with genjutsu. There will come a time when this may no longer be necessary, but that time is not now. Not yet. As a Ne operative, your _mind_, not your strength, is your greatest asset. Should you be captured, you put everyone you hold dear at risk."

The point didn't need any more emphasis. Imagining killing everyone he held dear – Sai, his mother, his father... _Danzou_, he forced himself to think – anything to steer his traitorous thoughts from Ino... Killing all of them because he believed them to be fakes. He could imagine no fate worse than that.

"You have no talent in Genjutsu." Danzou restated. "Again, you have _no_ talent in genjutsu. So stop trying to learn genjutsu counters. You need a different strategy. I think you know what I mean." Having made his point, Danzou walked out of the room, closing his door on the way out.

Kitsune sat on the bench, long after the Ne leader had left, with the echoes of the footsteps still ringing in his ears.

_What kind of a fate would that be? To believe everyone you ever loved was an enemy shinobi... and die while slaughtering them._ Genjutsu was a terrifying ordeal. _The human brain cannot separate reality from conjecture._

But the point was made. He had an ultimate trump card: Fuuinjutsu. Surely, there must be a way to deal with that through sealing.

…

"I have located Naruto."

Kakashi's blood froze. _Naruto_, and not his body. This was good news. Excellent. So why was he so... paralyzed? "And?"

"Danzou has him underground with the Ne initiates."

"Well then," he moved to reveal his Sharingan. "It's just a matter of getting him back."

"I have an undercover operative on this mission already."

"Just one? Hokage-sama, we'll need more."

"You misunderstand. Naruto is infatuated with Danzou right now. Anything short of kidnapping will not bring him over to us. Having once subscribed to the same philosophies as Danzou, you should understand their allure, Kakashi. It's not so simple as bringing Naruto _back_."

Kakashi did understand. It took Obito's death for Kakashi to change himself. What would it take for Naruto? "Send me, then. I understand better than anyone – as you yourself said."

A puff of the pipe. "Understanding and ability to act given your position are two different things entirely. While your sense of duty is impressive, you are needed for other matters."

Kakashi frowned. "It's not just my duty to Sensei that guides me, Hokage-sama." But nonetheless, the Jounin bowed and left the office. He had learned long ago to trust the Sandaime when it came to these matters. A time would still come when he could help his sensei's son. He just had to wait and be patient.

"I trust you heard enough to understand what you need, Itachi-kun?" The Sandaime smiled.

Itachi emerged from the wall. "Yondaime-sama's legacy... Indeed." This was good. This was a strategy. Of course, he was the best fit for the job. Should his mission fail, he'd be cast out of the village regardless in a matter of months. Kakashi was still a vital tool for the village. He couldn't risk himself so easily.

…

'_It seems that you've run out of resources for your fuuinjutsu._'

His sign was strange. A different dialect, certainly. But Kitsune couldn't quite pinpoint what was odd about it. Perhaps the motions he used, and not the words themselves. This man... he wasn't Ne. Kitsune was sure of it.

'_I rely on my own ideas. How could I ever run out of my brain?_'

'_Perhaps, but to understand base techniques, you need some source of inspiration. Only using that can you come up with your own._'

'_Hn._' Kitsune didn't quite feel like discussing his secret jutsus with a stranger – a spy, no less. '_What would you suggest?_'

'_I believe we are strongest when are are trying to protect the ones we love._'

Kitsune smirked. '_What rubbish. That's just begging someone to blackmail you by using your loved ones as hostages. That kind of thinking is a burden on the entire village._'

Surprisingly, the man smiled back. He jet black hair swayed as he shook his head. Obsidian eyes stared into Kitsune's aquamarine ones. '_That kind of thinking _founded_ the village._'

Kitsune frowned. What nonsense was this? And what kind of infiltrator paused to debate philosophy? Nothing was adding up. '_Enough. Why are you here, intruder?_'

'_For you, of course._'

'_Me?_'

'_Surely you don't believe Danzou picked you for Ne out of the goodness of his heart?_'

Kitsune wasn't sure what to make of this. And frankly, it didn't matter why he was chosen. He was Kitsune now. There was nothing before Ne. And there never would be.

'_Since you've clearly exhausted the minimal resources Ne has for fuuinjutsu, why don't you examine that seal on your stomach._'

Kitsune blinked, but in that split second of hesitation, the man before him disappeared. What the hell was he talking about? It was all a lie. A lie from a spy who had nothing better to do than mess with Kitsune's brain. Yes, it all made sense. The spy was caught, and in order to escape, he had to disrupt Kitsune's mental flow and catch him off guard. Which is why the man engaged in meaningless banter.

Still... it couldn't hurt to check... right? Slowly, he removed his shirt and looked down. Nothing. A completely normal stomach.

Feeling rather stupid, he quickly put his shirt back on. Grumpily, he moved to resume his anti-genjutsu training.

…

Kitsune grimaced as a particularly nasty punch hit his stomach.

His father sighed. "You're not concentrating. That punch was purposefully telegraphed as a feint, but you couldn't even dodge _that_, never mind what was coming. What's going on?"

'_It's nothing._' As frustratingly annoying as the intruder was, several points he had made stuck with Kitsune. Like the false information about the seal on his body. It wasn't he absence of the seal that had bothered him; rather, it was the idea of having seals on human skin. The single most irritating facet of fuuinjutsu in battle was the necessity to pull out the scroll, make the requisite blood sacrifice, and smear the blood. Of course, this could be done rather quickly, but it didn't change the inconvenience of it all.

Worse, if the opponent was well versed in fuuinjutsu, it wouldn't take long for them to see exactly what kind of seal it was and predict the outcome accordgingly. But a seal on an actual _person_... The idea was incredible. And this intruder had said it an almost off-handed manner. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kitsune was, well, jealous. He wasn't talented in many things, but fuuinjutsu was something close to his essense. And to have some stranger give him such an insight was irritating. Even worse, he hadn't the slightest clue as to how to begin.

With regular sealing, he could just whip up something in a piece of paper. Then, throwing a containment seal around it (when things went wrong, they did so rather... explosively...), he could just channel chakra into it and see what happened. Well, it wasn't like he had live test dummies to carve seals onto. Sealing on a _live_ person would require a new level of precision that the prankster-inventor Kitsune had yet to show.

"You really don't want to be training right now, do you?"

Kitsune shamefully shook his head. He prepared himself for the lecture on persistence and duty.

"I know my son will use this time off wisely."

Kitsune stared at his father's figure in shock; then, as soon as the shock faded, he ran into his room.

…

"Danzou-sama," the shinobi braced himself. Delivering bad news to Danzou was more of an art than a science, which meant there was a very real possibility of not waking up tomorrow. "It seems there has been a breach in our security. Number 5492.c was found dead this morning."

"So we have an extra roaming around our complex."

"Hai. What are your orders?"

Danzou had, many times, considered the risk of such a thing occurring. They had yet to develop a full, formal protocol for such a thing because the safety of Konoha was always more important, and in the event Konoha was fully breached, Danzou had... more nefarious plans. A single infiltrator was always one of those last-priority items that never seemed to get fully addressed. Still, the war veteran wasn't without ideas.

"Quarantine the entire complex. No one comes in or out. As we sweep, we seal off safe zones that are vetted. We find this rat _now_."

"H-Hai, Danzou-sama."

…

But what did it even mean to put seals on himself? It would have to be naturally compatible with his own chakra signature – otherwise his own coils would reject it and he'd be thrown into a violent detox. But seals were either even or odd pronged, which didn't translate at all into actual _humans_. So what exactly could he do?

Leaving that head scratcher aside, he decided to focus on the activation. The ideal type of seal would be one where guiding his own chakra to unlock the seal would be sufficient. That way, he could do away with all the blood seals. He chuckled, looking at his own bandaged fingers. His right thumb had numerous tiny scars from all the incessant pricks. Somehow the scars always faded...

He shook his head. He couldn't even do animal testing – it wasn't like animals had a particular chakra affinity. Which left only self-testing. And if he screwed up, well... he'd be in for it then.

Kitsune took a deep breath.

Still, the stomach wasn't a bad suggestion. It was the easiest place to gather chakra. Very close to the coils. And most of the vital chakra junctures were nearby, too. It was a great location. Naruto took off his shirt and stared at his bellybutton, as if hoping for some miraculous insight would hit him on the head.

Kitsune sighed. A _real_ fuuinjutsu master would be able to figure out something this simple.

Suddenly, the door opened, and the boy flushed. '_MOM!_' He was signing with trembling arms.

"Sorry, sorry sweetie. I'll knock next time. Although I _am_ your mother, Kami-sama only knows what you're so asham – " Ishida dropped the teapot she was holding. "_Kitsune_!"

Kitsune blinked in confusion, forgetting shame for the moment. The tone was too different. What was – and then, turning to the mirror, he saw it. Dark, black markings that came to life.

A seal on his stomach.

An incredibly intricate seal.

* * *

><p>Welp, hope you liked it! I suffered from <em>massive<em> writer's block this chapter because I couldn't decide what exactly I should include and how far I wanted to go. But we'll see a lot more next chapter. I was more in the "just get through the writer's block" zone for this chapter, and a lot more exciting things occur next time.

Ah well, such things happen.

See you later!


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